The Best Defense
by Hamm On Wry
Summary: Post HBP. Harry is back at the Dursley's for the summer following Dumbledore's death. Although Voldemort can't physically touch him, he is torturing Harry through his mind. The Order receives help from a surprising quarter in their quest to protect Harry
1. Chapter 1

_4 Privet Drive_

Harry awoke with a start. Another night of tortured sleep behind him, he reached over onto the nightstand and grabbed what appeared to be a salt- water taffy wrapped in a green paper. Popping it into his mouth and chewing, he felt his voice returning.

The candies were a gift from Fred and George Weasley, and came in two colors, blue and green. The blue candies, and their counterpart green candies, were part of a new Skiving Snackbox. Blue to rob a person of their voice, green to restore it. As Harry chewed, he thought that they would be perfect if they could only take away the pain associated with silently screaming for eight hours. That and the awful headaches.

Harry had been shut up inside his room for the past two weeks while Voldemort tortured him, smashing through his mind's defenses and playing in slow motion the deaths of everyone Harry had lost. His parents, Sirius, Dumbledore. He showed Harry every scene where his friends and loved ones had been tortured. The cerebral cinema was slowly driving Harry insane. He also taunted Harry regarding the prophesy, having picked it out of Harry's mind the very first night that he invaded Harry's dreams.

_"You really think that you can kill me, you pitiful boy? You cannot even stop me from entering your mind! Boy, I will either kill you or drive you to the point that you will kill yourself. In any case, you are no threat to me. You can join the Longbottoms in your own little hell in St. Mungo's"_

Harry knew that he should tell someone about the nightly assaults, however with Dumbledore gone, he had no idea of just who he should tell. He thought of Moody, Lupin and the Weasleys, but none of those options sounded like they could do much good. As far as he knew, Dumbledore had not entrusted any of them with the details of the prophesy. That left Ron and Hermione, and Harry did not believe that either of them could really help. He quickly dressed and headed downstairs to see if he could eat.

It was really a pleasant morning. The Dursleys had left early to attend a boxing match in which Dudley was entered. Harry went to the refrigerator and pulled out three eggs and some cheese in order to make himself an omelet. As the eggs were cooking, he put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and went back to the fridge to get some oleo and marmalade. Sliding his omelet onto a plate and stacking the toast on the top, he sat down at the table to eat, and for the ten thousandth time, brood about the twists of fate that put him squarely in the sights of the most powerful wizard in the modern world.

Twenty minutes later, as Harry was drying and putting away the dishes that he had used, he reflected on the strange turn of events since he had returned to the Dursley's home. While Petunia had shown her normal disdain toward Harry, and Vernon had been about as sociable as a blast-ended skrewt, Dudley had not only been civil to Harry, but had been coming to Harry's room to talk about Harry's world. t seemed that Dudley had been very impressed by Harry's defense of him against the Dementors two summers ago. Dudley had not come around Harry last summer, in reality he was a bit scared to. Harry just seemed to have this whole..well..trouble magnet attached to him. Dudley was growing up however, and had spent the last school year reassessing his scrawny cousin. It had helped that Harry had come back from Hogwarts looking quite a bit more physically fit than when he had left the previous summer. The two boys had spent several hours in Harry's room, talking about the war and Harry's life at Hogwarts. The real turning point came when Hedwig allowed Dudley to pet her, gently nipping his finger in a sign of acceptance. While Harry did not tell Dudley of the prophesy, the large boy figured out that since Voldemort and the Death Eaters had been targeting Harry for so long, that his cousin must be playing a pivotal role. Although Dudley had been quite the prat for as long as Harry could remember, he was no numpty. He had also grown up, becoming more introspective over the past year.

Not wanting to face the four walls of his bedroom right then, Harry took a stroll over to Mrs. Figg's house. While there, he mowed her lawn and had a quick chat with Tonks, who was the designated watcher for this shift. He also used a bit of floo powder to attempt to chat with Mrs. Weasley; however no one was at the Burrow.

Remembering the crushing depression he had gone through after the death of his godfather, Harry was trying his best to keep from sliding into the same trap following Dumbledore's death. He had resigned himself to having to share his nights with Voldemort, but he wanted the daytime to be his own, a time in which he could quietly grieve and remember the good things in his life. He was also determined to channel his grief into positive action, studying every clue he could lay his hands on about the Horcruxes which had already been destroyed, and attempting to puzzle out where the others could be hidden. To this end, Hermione had been helping by spending hours with Professor McGonagall, picking her brain for everything she could remember about Tom Riddle and sending long letters via owl to Harry.

There were times in which Harry would have liked to convert his Gringott's holdings to muggle funds and just disappear, but those thoughts were fleeting. All he wanted was a normal life. A normal wizarding life. He could not really imagine living his life without magic, and he knew the only way normality would return to his world would be if he defeated Voldemort. As he thought of the fear that his world was going through, he knew that this was worth one more life. His life, and he knew that if it came to that, he would make that sacrifice. For his friends, for the people he had come to love these past six years.

Returning to the Dursley's, Harry went up to his room just as a post owl flew up to his window with the latest Daily Prophet. Harry paid the owl and tipped him an owl treat from Hedwig's supply, earning him hiss and a couple of beak clicks from the snowy owl. Opening the paper, he saw the front page article that said that the Ministry had decreed that Hogwarts would be closed for at least the next year, and urging wizarding parents to home school their children. The Ministry did not address the matter of training for muggle born children, leaving the distinct impression that the less said about these students, the better. He also noted with interest that during the period that Hogwarts would be closed, the ban on underage magic was to be lifted "for training purposes".

Just as he heard the Dursley's car pulling into the driveway, a searing pain blasted through his head, driving Harry to his knees. His reality shifted, and he no longer was seeing his bedroom at 4 Privet Drive, but rather was in a dungeon, unable to move or speak. In front of him, in a similar state, were Lupin, Hermione, and all of the Weasleys. Harry heard a low laugh behind him.

_"Isn't this a beautiful day Harry? I find that sharing days like this with family and friends to be most refreshing. But where are my manners? Wormtail, welcome our guests!"_

_"Avada Kedavra!"_ Wormtail shot the killing curse at Bill Weasley, the green light erupting out of his wand and dropping Bill to the floor.

_"Shame on you Peter, now we will have to remove a place setting at the dining table. Surely you can make our guest's visit more interesting than this."_

Wormtail snickered, "So sorry M'lord, I got carried away. "_Crucio!"_ Peter pointed his wand at Lupin and let fly. Although Lupin was still frozen in place, Harry could see the agony in his eyes.

_"What am I thinking? I have been waiting for Harry to complement me on my hospitality, and I forgot to allow him to speak"_ Voldemort came around in front of Harry and muttered under his breath while pointing his wand at Harry.

His voice freed, Harry moaned, "NOOOO…" Voldemort nodded at Peter and the smirking rat released his spell.

_"Bella, please show Miss Weasley how we can make her visit more enjoyable"_

Bellatrix Lestrange moved into view, and with a indolent wave of her wand, released Ginny from her frozen condition. Two masked Death Eaters seized Ginny and manhandled her over to a table-like fixture that looked to be some sadistic altar. Strapping her down, Voldemort picked up a scalpel and held it up to the light.

_"You know Harry, I read quite a bit about the period of time that the muggles were at war he in Europe. There was a muggle whom I read about, that had he been magical, would have been a wonderful Death Eater. Mengle was his name I believe…. He had some most interesting methods of experimentation.. "_

Taking the scalpel, Voldemort took Ginny's left hand and started to cut around her knuckle on her thumb. When he finished, he grabbed the thumb, bent it backwards and ripped it from her hand. The scream that Ginny let out tore through Harry and he let out a scream that almost matched in volume.

_"Harry, I am going to use these instruments and take your girlfriend apart at every joint. Then I plan to skin what is left. There will be a point where you will beg me to kill her. I may consider granting you this favor, but it will be you who asks for her death"_

With Ginny's screams in his ears, Harry descended into madness.

The Dursleys burst into the house upon hearing Harry's screams. They found Harry laying on the floor, contorted in pain, screaming Ginny's name, pleading with some invisible person to stop. Petunia lost all colour in her face and backed out of the room. Vernon grabbed Harry's shirt and pulled him up, slapping his face while shouting at him to shut up. Seeing this, Dudley crashed into the room, grabbed Vernon's arm and shouted at his father.

"Leave him alone, you bloody bastard!" Vernon whirled around, face contorted in rage.

"How DARE you speak to me that way and defend this freak!" With his free hand, he shoved Dudley back against the wall.

Calling upon everything he had learned in his boxing training, Dudley did the unthinkable. Balling his fist, he launched a roundhouse at his father, smashing him across the room. As Vernon hit the wall, his eyes glazed over and he slid to the floor.

Running over to his prone father, Dudley took a ballpoint pen from Vernon's shirt pocket, looked around, and seeing some parchment, wrote "HARRY NEEDS HELP NOW!" and signed his name. Going over to Hedwig's cage, he bent down and looked straight into the owl's eyes.

"Hedwig, Harry needs help. Can you take this message to someone who can help him?" Hedwig hooted at him and took the parchment in her beak. When Dudley opened the window, Hedwig shot out of the room and disappeared.


	2. Unexpected News

**Pop! Pop!**

Less than five minutes had passed since Hedwig had flown out of Harry's window. She had not gone very far, just to Mrs. Figg's house. Not bothering to scratch at the window, Hedwig crashed through it and landed in the lap of a very surprised Tonks. Tonks was in the sitting room speaking with Shacklebolt, updating him at shift change.

"Wot…" Taking the note from Hedwig, she read it and snapped, "Trouble. Let's go. Mrs. Figg, please notify the Order to send help to Harry's." With that, she and Shacklebolt disappeared.

As soon as the pair arrived at Harry's, Shacklebolt quickly sized up the situation and cast a silencing charm on Harry. "What happened?" he asked.

Dudley stepped forward. "We heard him start screaming as we came into the door. Ran upstairs and found him like this."

Shacklebolt looked at Dudley suspiciously, then at Vernon lying unconscious against the wall. " And just how did he get these hand marks on his face, and what happened to your father?"

Dudley turned beet red at this, looked down at his shoes. "D- Dad came in, saw Harry screaming and started slapping him and yelling at him to shut up. And I had to stop my dad." 

Just then, Mad Eye Moody and Lupin appeared in the room, causing Petunia to give a squeak of fright and flee to the safety of her kitchen. Shacklebolt quickly filled them in on the situation and, with a word, Moody made a portkey from one of Harry's books, grabbed one of Harry's hands while Lupin grabbed the other. They then touched all hands to the book and disappeared.

Shacklebolt walked over to Dudley. "Son, the wizarding world owes you a debt of thanks. Harry has been taken to St. Mungo's. I will keep you updated. Your father ought to thank you also. Had we seen him doing that to Harry, he would have more than a sore jaw. It is really too bad that you did not come to Hogwarts with Harry that first year. I believe that you would have become a great wizard."

"What!" Dudley exploded. "I'm not a wizard! I sure never got one of those letters like Harry did."

Shacklebolt looked at him sadly. "You mean you were never told? You got your letter just after Harry got his, but your parents wrote back and said that one freak in the family was enough. In cases like this, we let the parents make the decisions and honor their wishes. A ministry official visited while you were asleep and placed a magic binding spell on you so that you would not have any accidental magic leaks."

While Dudley mulled this over, Shacklebolt walked over to the unconscious Vernon, who was beginning to stir a bit. "If it is alright with you Dudley, I am going to modify your parent's memories just a bit so that you don't get in trouble with your old man over the knockdown. The only thing that they will remember is that Harry left for the remainder of the summer. Would you also like your memory altered? It could be a protection for you."

"No sir, I believe that I will be fine, and I really don't want to forget the things that you have told me. How can I get hold of you or Harry's other friends if need be?"

"Just go down the street to Mrs. Figg's house and she can fill you in. And by the way, kid…"

"Yes?"

"Really nice punch" With that, Shacklebolt and Tonks altered Vernon and Petunia's memories, then left.

St. Mungo's Magical Hospital.

_"Mens Somnus!"_

The Healer that was standing over Harry turned to face Lupin. "I am afraid that there is nothing more that we can do here. I have put a block on his mind that stops all incoming stimuli; however it also puts him into a deep coma. His brain stem is not affected, so he can continue to breathe and have a heartbeat, but it is as if he is in what the muggle scientists call a state of stasis. As long as the patient is near enough to the intruder to connect with him, then he can invade the patient's mind and put him back in the same condition. The only hope for recovery is distance. You must get him far enough away that the invader cannot affect him."

Lupin smiled wryly. The Healer knew who Harry was, and knew that it was Voldemort who was torturing him, but referred to Harry as "the patient" and Voldemort as the "invader", refusing to acknowledge the desperate battle these two were locked into, one that would decide the fate of two worlds, muggle and magical. As he turned to go, the Healer cleared her throat.

"Mr. Lupin? One thing that you should know is this… When I cast that spell that shut down Harry's brain, it forcibly threw out You Know Who from Harry's mind. He is going to hurting for a bit. At this point, he may believe that Harry is dead, since there is no brain activity."

"Its about time", thought Lupin. "I don't know how much more Healerspeak I could have stood." "Thank you Healer Swanson, that comes as a bit of a relief, and I am glad that you told me about You Know Who's pain. I cannot think of anyone who deserves the pain more."

Remus left Harry's room, went to the Floo transfer point and, with a flash of green flame, left for Order Headquarters.

_4 Privet Drive_

Dudley sat in his room fuming. All of those wasted years, he thought. He went back in his mind recalling his relationship with his cousin. In the years before Harry went to Hogwarts, Dudley had been a selfish, spoiled prat because that was the way his parents had raised him. Bigotry and prejudice are most often learned while sitting on a parent's knee, as is kindness and compassion. The demonstration of magic that Hagrid had performed on Dudley by placing a pig's tail on his posterior had scared Dudley, but had also awakened a new emotion. Envy of his cousin. Harry was special. He had a whole other world who cared for him, and was about to embark on an adventure that made Dudley's life as a favoured child pale in comparison. This situation went on until the Dementor attack of the previous summer. Now Dudley decided that somehow, someway, he was going to throw off his past and try to make up for his actions and actually be a friend to Harry.

Dudley left his room and went into Harry's. Hedwig had returned to her cage after everyone had left the room. She looked terrible, with her feathers drooping. When the Healer at St. Mungo's had placed the charm on Harry, Hedwig lost that small psychic connection with her master, her friend. Dudley pulled up a chair next to her cage and started speaking low and comfortingly to her while writing a letter with some notebook paper and a pen. Finishing the letter, he turned to face Hedwig.

"Hedwig, I am sure that Harry will be alright, he always seems to pull through. His luck and friends will bring him through this time also. Do you know how to get a message to his friends Ron and Hermione?" When Hedwig hooted in the affirmative, Dudley rolled up the letter that he had written.

"Please take this to them, and then stay with them until Harry gets better. I am afraid that if you stay here, Dad will do something to hurt you. He hates everything having to do with Harry and the magical world, and you are a part of that. If they want to send anything to me, I will leave my window open for you, but you will need to come at night when everyone is asleep."

With that, Hedwig held out her leg for Dudley to attach the letter, gave him a gentle nip on his finger and flew out the still-open window.

a/n Mens Somnus mind sleep


	3. The Contract

_4 Privet Drive_

Dudley looked around the room and gave a sigh. He had just spent the day cleaning Harry's room and packing up his things. As he packed the items in the room into the trunk, he had glanced through the books and followed the path of knowledge that Harry had taken the past six years. It was fortunate that Harry's trunk had been open when he began packing, otherwise he would have been unable to open it. He took special care of Harry's wand, left behind in the rush to get Harry to help. He held it longingly and gave it a small wave. Nothing happened. He felt nothing but an oddly shaped stick. Sighing, he packed it in with the rest of the belongings. The magic binding spell was still in effect. Because of a decision made for him six years ago, he would never have the choice as to which world he would belong.

The note that Hedwig had brought was short and terse. _"Someone will be by tomorrow night to pick up Harry's belongings at 10:00 p.m. He will not be returning."_ The note was unsigned. At that hour, Vernon and Petunia would be in bed and expect Dudley to be in bed also. _"What they don't know…"_ thought Dudley. He figured that the wizard or witch who picked up Harry's things would just appear in Harry's room, and he knew that they could probably pack the trunk quicker and more efficiently than he could. He needed the closure though. Having closed the trunk, Dudley got Harry's broom out of the closet and strapped it to the top of the trunk. With a final look at his last connection to his cousin, he stepped outside the room and closed the door.

Stepping into his room, Dudley was surprised to see a small barn owl sitting patiently on his windowsill. He opened the window and the little bird hopped in and held out his leg. Dudley took the envelope from the owl, reached into his desk and pulled out a small beef stick from his stash. Be broke off a piece and gave it to the owl. The owl hooted appreciatively, but did not leave. Dudley thought this a bit odd until he realized that the owl must be waiting for an answer. He tore open the letter and read it.

_"Dear Mr. Dursley:_

My name is Minerva McGonagall. I am the former Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and a friend of Harry's. I would like to speak with you this evening and offer a proposition. It would be best to do it away from your parent's home. If this is agreeable to you, take that object in the envelope and hold onto it at precisely 10 p.m. It would also be very helpful if you could hold the handle of Harry's trunk at the same time. This would save us from having to send someone to your home at that hour. Please reply with either your acceptance or refusal by the owl that brought you this."

Dudley tore off the bottom of the letter, wrote the word _"YES"_ on it and tied it to the owl's leg. The owl gave a happy hoot, nodded its head a couple of times and flew out the window. He looked at his watch, 9:49 p.m. Dudley shook out the object from the envelope; it was a small old-fashioned skeleton key. Quickly moving to Harry's room, he grasped the handle of Harry's trunk in one hand while holding the key in the other. He sat, frozen in anticipation for 10 minutes. Just as he was wondering if it was all a joke, there was a tugging sensation behind his navel, and all at once he was… elsewhere. That is the only way he could describe it. It was a house, but it was unlike any house he had ever been in. There was a portrait of an extremely ugly old woman screaming something at him about mudblood and blood-traitors. A small creature wearing the oddest assortment of clothes and looking something like Yoda from the Star Wars pictures at the cinema was glowering at him. The little creature hauled back its leg and gave Dudley a swift kick in the shin.

"OW! What in the bloody hell is that all about?" The little creature looked up at him with a dangerous glare.

"You are muggle cousin of the great Harry Potter. Dobby hears how Harry Potter's cousin has hurt Harry Potter for all these years. Dobby is unhappy with muggle cousin."

"Stop Dobby, I will take care of Mr. Dursley. You need to stop jumping to conclusions. Mr. Dursley is now a friend and ally." Dudley looked and saw a stern looking woman in robes with her hair pulled up in a tight bun.

With that, Dobby got a repentant look on his face and began to apologise while at the same time he started running his head against the wall. Dudley reached out and grabbed the little elf to stop him from hurting himself.

"Dobby, please. Do stop trying to punish yourself. After all I have done, I deserved the kick and much more. Let's try to start out fresh. My name is Dudley, and I suppose yours is Dobby." Dobby looked at Dudley with large eyes, sniffed and nodded.

"Harry cousin Dudley is as kind as the great Harry Potter and his friends. Dobby will not hurt cousin Dudley anymore."

Minerva McGonagall again spoke up. "Dobby, please bring some refreshments into the sitting room." She then went to the portrait, which was still screaming, and forced the curtains closed over it. McGonagall motioned Dudley into a neatly appointed sitting room.

"Mr. Dursley, I am Minerva McGonagall. Harry may have mentioned me to you?" At Dudley's nod she went on. "I believe that you have had your seventeenth birthday?" Dudley nodded again. "

"In the wizarding world, that makes you an adult, with all of the rights and responsibilities of an adult. You may seek employment, sign contracts as well as be responsible for your own actions. You can use magic and hold bank accounts. Mr. Dursley, I would like to offer you a job and a future."

"But I am not in your world! My parents and your ministry made sure of that when I was not allowed to attend your school and had that spell put on me to bind any magic." Dudley again felt his loss.

"But you can be. If you accept this job, the binding spell will be lifted and you will, as part of your benefit package, be allowed to independently study magic on your off hours. You will be able to, in time, sit for your O.W.L. tests, and later, should you decide to complete your education, your N.E.W.T. exams. Depending on scores, you would have a wide array of careers to choose from. When the binding spell is lifted, you will, by default, become part of our world."

"But what would I tell my parents? I can't just disappear, they would go insane looking for me."

"You will not have to tell them anything. With your athletic prowess and good grades.." Dudley almost choked on the tart he was eating. He was actually a "C" student, however due to skillful alterations on his grade report, his parents did not know this. McGonagall gave him a knowing nod and continued.

"As I was saying, your parents will be made to believe that you have received a athletic scholarship to University in the field of Boxing. They will be so proud that you obtained this a year early with your grades," Again that knowing twinkle. "Should they want to visit, the opportunity will just pass by. They can be allowed to believe that they have visited you at school."

Dudley mulled this over. "Just what would this job entail?"

McGonagall grimaced. This was not her preferred plan of action, she did not have one. Lupin had come up with the idea and forced it forward. She saw the sense in it, however she had strong misgivings. "The employment offer is centered around Harry. At this moment, he is in what would be considered a brain-dead vegetative state. This was something that had to be done, placing him in this coma, until we can get him out of England and away from Voldemort's influence. What we want you to do is assist him in training his physical body, as well as being an anchor for him mentally and spiritually. You are the best connection to his family, and the only one who cares at all for him. In exchange for your services, you will be supplied with a salary, books and supplies to begin your magical training, as well as room and board."

"Will I get a wand?" McGonagall nodded. "That falls under the category of supplies."

"Where will Harry and I be?"

"I am afraid that I cannot tell you that at this time. There is too much danger in the wrong people finding out. It could endanger both of your lives. I hope that you understand."

"Ms. McGonagall, I accept your offer, and hope that I can live up to your expectations." With this, McGonagall smiled and took out her wand.

_"Solvo Vox!"_

A blue light shot from the wand, enveloping Dudley. All at once he felt energy flow through him. He had never felt this much… ALIVE!. The glow faded and he looked up at McGonagall. "Did it work?"

McGonagall rummaged in a pocket of her robe and pulled out a small, polished wand. "This wand is not made for you, however it will show if you have abilities. Take it and give it a small wave."

Dudley took the wand, gave a wave, and small green sparks flew out. "Wow!" He handed McGonagall back the wand and she tucked it away. She then took out a piece of parchment and placed it on the table.

"This is your employment contract. Here is a quill, sign on the line below." Dudley did so. "Normally you would validate your signature with your own wand, however since you do not have one at this time, place your thumb on the parchment next to your name." Dudley did so and McGonagall put her wand next to her signature. A glow came out of the wand and covered the paper. Then continued up Dudley's arm. When it finished, McGonagall held out her hand for Dudley to shake.

"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix Dudley. And you may now call me Minerva."

"Thank you,…. Minerva?"

"Yes?"

"Harry told me about the different school houses. If I had started at Hogwarts back when I was eleven years old, where do you think that I would have ended up?"

McGonagall smiled. "Let's see, back then you were a selfish, spoiled little prat, correct?" Dudley nodded. "In that case, you would probably have been sorted into Slytherin." With that, McGonagall had Dudley take a two way portkey so that he could go home and pack his clothes.

A/N: _Solvo Vox_ release powers


	4. Chapter 4

_30,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean_

Dudley sat in the right window seat of the corporate jet which had been chartered to carry he and Harry to their new place of refuge. The aeroplane had been outfitted to carry the gurney upon which Harry lay. Dudley looked over at his cousin, but still had trouble believing that Harry was even alive. Had it not been for the steady rise and fall of Harry's chest, he would have sworn that his cousin was dead.

The muggle Foreign Ministry had cooperated with the Ministry of Magic to outfit Harry and Dudley with passports under false names that also showed the two boys to be two years older than they really were. They were not happy about it, but they realised that Harry was the best, nay only way that they would ever end this wizarding war that had spilled over into the muggle community. McGonagall had laid the case out for the Minister of Magic. She had told him of the prophecy and the fact that Voldemort had created the Horcruxes. The ministry had not had any success in stopping Voldemort, therefore they accepted that the reason for their failure was that fate had decreed that only Harry could defeat Voldemort. This took the blame off of their shoulders and allowed them to heave a sigh of relief. For a politician, this is the ideal situation.

The Ministry did want Voldemort defeated, so they were obliged to work with the Order to aid in Harry's recovery. They needed this war over soon or no matter how much they protested that it was not their fault, they would be replaced, probably forcibly. They therefore opened up the doors of the Exchequer, or at least the vault that the Ministry used as a slush fund, to finance the entire operation. This was done with not a small amount of grumbling, since they would rather use that type of money to buy votes, however if the operation could be carried off, it would have the same effect.

After making the arrangements for sanctuary for Harry and chartering the jet, the next order of business was getting Dudley outfitted. McGonagall purchased all of the books which Dudley would need in his first two years, reasoning that with no homework and doing independent studies, Dudley could finish these courses designed for 11 and 12 year olds in a few months. She also outlined a course of study. The one course that Dudley did not have was Potions. McGonagall reasoned that where they were going, the ingredients that Dudley would need might not be available. He could always do his potion work once he returned to England.

When Dudley went to Olivander's shop for his wand, he was, of course measured in every possible way. It took hours to find the correct wand. Every single wand that he picked up seemed to have an aversion to giving off more than a couple of weak sparks. It was not until, with feet aching from standing so long, that Dudley leaned against a display case which promptly fell over. It was a small case, about a meter wide and two meters high that had but a few wand cases inside. The contents dumped, and apologising profusely, Dudley scrambled to pick them up. He righted the display case and began to pick up the wand boxes, wands that were a lot larger in size from anything that he had been shown.

"Careful young man, those are specialized wands, not for the beginner." Just then, Dudley picked up a large wand with a brass grip to return it to its box. He was feeling frustrated, and when he picked up the wand, a gold glow went down his arm, through the wand, and out the end. It made a hole in the floor of the shop a foot in diameter and the resulting shock wave blew the glass out of the front door.

"YEOW! Oh my gawd, I am so sorry! I didn't know it was loaded!" Dudley looked over at the wand maker and McGonagall. Both were standing open mouthed in shock.

M-Mr. Dursley, that should not have happened. It should not even be possible. It takes a wizard much more experienced and powerful than you should be to even get a spark out of that wand." Olivander hurried over. Hmm… Yew, 18 inch, double cored with dragon heartstring and a green and gold phoenix feather. A professional dueling wand." The wand maker looked discomfited. " I only sell at the most… five of these a year, and most of them are custom ordered. The vast majority of wizards and witches would never have use for something this powerful, and besides, the cost is usually prohibitive. The trouble with making these is that getting the two non-matched cores to work in unison is a real… uh, ..problem. That is why they are so expensive. A normal single core wand averages 10-15 galleons, these are closer to two hundred."

McGonagall smiled. "Mr. Olivander, have you not always said that the wand chooses the wizard? It seems that this wand has chosen Mr. Dursley." She pulled out a voucher from the Ministry that read, 'One wand, any type' and presented it to him.

Olivander shook his head. "That usually means a single cored wand. They are going to go completely starkers over this one. However, they did say 'any type', so that is their problem. Nothing else in stock has shown any inclination of working with Mr. Dursley. I suppose that he will just have to use this one, Ministry bean counters be damned. I would caution you however, do not point that at anyone unless you really mean it. You can use it for your education, but in muggle terms it is going to be like using a tank to swat a mosquito. I would also suggest that you use a holster with it. It will be quite uncomfortable to try and carry it in a pocket."

Olivander picked out a matching holster for the wand made from dragonhide, then rang up their purchases. Minerva handed over the voucher from the ministry and 5 galleons to pay for the holster.

Once they were out on the street, Dudley asked if he was to get robes. Minerva explained that where they were going (and Dudley still had not been given that information) that robes were not the popular form of dress. "You will be given muggle money from your destination country to purchase clothes of the local style. You will also want to purchase some sort of athletic clothing. It should fit in with the local scene. Your guide will help you with that."

Now, thirteen hours later, Dudley still had no idea of their destination. These folk were keeping it very close to the vest. The crew on the jet were muggles, the Healer with Harry was a muggleborn dressed in a nurses uniform. The cover story was that they were taking Harry to a clinic for neurological treatment that could not be obtained in the U.K. As the plane began to tilt downward, the flight attendant came back and asked Dudley to fasten his seat belt.

"Sir, we will be landing soon to clear customs and to refuel. Because of the nature of this flight, being a medical flight, the customs officials will be coming directly to the plane to do the paperwork."

"That is nice, but just where are we?" Dudley asked.

"Oh, this stop is White Plains, New York. From here we will be heading to Dallas-Ft. Worth. The ambulance will meet us there at the general aviation." The flight attendant had a distinctly non-British accent.

"Texas? Won't we have trouble with wild Indians there? "

The attendant began to laugh, a deep laugh that came from way down. "You must have been going to the cinema too much. I can assure you that Dallas and Ft. Worth are completely modern cities and that the Indians are just like everyone else." She went back up the aisle chuckling about gullible Brits.

The process with the Customs and the refueling did not take long, and they were soon airborne once again. The attendant came back to Dudley and told him tha she had put in a DVD from a travel agency that was distributed by the Texas Tourism Bureau. It had quite a bit of information on the state along with descriptions of Texas tourist destinations. Dudley put away the mystery book that he had purchased for the flight and turned his attention to the movie.

Upon landing three hours later, the Healer and the ambulance attendants transferred Harry onto the Ambulance gurney, had get into the back of the ambulance with Harry and the Healer. Just a few minutes later, they pulled up in back of a large store and parked next to a bus-sized motorhome. The Healer and attendants took Harry off the gurney and carried him into the motorhome. Dudley followed them inside. The Healer took out her wand, pointed it at Harry's head and spoke.

_"Suscitatio Mens!"_

Harry's hands flew to his forehead, then stopped. He looked around him, looked at the Healer, the attendant, then Dudley. He also took in the interior of the motorhome.

"Dudley? Who are these people and where the bloody hell am I?"

A/N: _"Suscitatio Mens!"_ awaken the mind

I know that it may seem that I made Dudders a bit Mary Sue-ish in the wand store, but I assure you that he is not going to be some kind of super wizard. The dueling wand is going to have a use to explain a few idiosycrosies at a later time.

Next up... Harry goes on a road trip, meets his new teachers and learns to see things a whole new way!


	5. The Journey, Pt 2

_Interstate 20, Midland, Texas, USA_

Harry sat in a reclining chair in the motorhome. They had stopped for the night at a campground outside this small Texas town. Harry was enjoying the air conditioning of the luxury motorhome. He looked down at his new clothes, feeling somewhat silly, and remembered how the day had unfolded.

He had awakened from the mind sleep spell expecting to be in pain, in the nightmare in which Voldemort had trapped him. Instead, three strangers and Dudley surrounded him. There was no pain, but his muscles did not want to obey his mental commands. This was a result of spending so much time in a coma-like state. The Healer had given him a strengthening potion, then had left with one of the men. The man had apparently taken her back to the airport to catch a flight home to England. According to the other man, who he now knew to be Jack Stevenson, the other man would be dropping off the ambulance at the company they had rented it from, picking up his car and joining them later tonight. They had rented the ambulance, supposedly to be a background prop in a movie. The two men were some of the oddest people he had ever met, and for a almost-seventeen year old wizard with his background, that was saying quite a bit.

Jack Stevenson would have fit right in a movie about modern Texas cowboys. He was about 5'10" and lean as a piece of beef jerky. When he had changed out of his ambulance driver's uniform into his regular clothes, he had donned a pair of faded Levi's, a long sleeve plaid shirt, cowboy boots and a battered Stetson hat. His partner, Pablo Morales, was a 6'5" Navajo Indian who must have weighed 300 pounds. Pablo, although having a Mexican grandfather, had lived on the Navajo reservation his entire life, other than during a short stint in the American muggle Marine Corps, and was considered one of the tribal elders. He was also a Medicine Man. Both were wizards, Jack being from a pureblood family, and Pablo's grandfather being a Mexican wizard who had married a muggle Navajo woman. The two men were apparently longtime friends, comfortably bantering back and forth the same way as he and Ron Weasley did.

The first thing that the group did after leaving Dallas was to stop at a large department store to outfit Harry and Dudley with clothes so that they would fit in with the local population. When they exited the motorhome, Harry and Dudley both were impressed with just how hot and humid it was. It was like being in a sauna. Harry marveled at Jack wearing a long sleeved shirt in this weather, and told him so.

"Shucks, if I didn't wear long-sleeves, I would have arms that looked like leather. I suggest that you boys get the same thing. This sun here will burn you to a crisp if you are not used to it, and you will be spending enough time out here in tee shirts and shorts to get a decent tan anyway. No sense in broiling you to well-done."

When Harry and Dudley finally left the store, they had a dozen pairs of blue jeans, several long sleeved shirts in various plaid designs, running shoes, and a couple of blue jean vests. Jack told them that the rest of their clothes would be purchased elsewhere. Harry was just happy to get back in the air-conditioned RV. Jack sent the boys back to the bedroom of the RV to get changed into their new clothes, and then the boys passed the time with Harry showing Dudley how to play Exploding Snap.

After a couple of hours traveling, Harry noticed that all of the scenery looked pretty much the same. "Does all of Texas look like this?" he asked.

"Naw, this is just the eastern part of the state. This is pretty much grassland, some trees and lots of miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Now out west, where we are going, there is desert and small hills. My place is just outside of El Paso, two thousand acres of prime Texas desert land. Sand, rocks, gullies, and cactus. The wildlife there is pretty much limited to Jackrabbits, scorpions, and rattlesnakes, with the occasional lizard or buzzard thrown in just to keep things interesting. "

Dudley's jaw dropped. "What in the world could be considered prime about that? It sounds bloody awful!"

"Don't let that little description throw you, it is in big demand. Why just last month a New York lawyer came by and offered me top dollar for it. When I asked him why he wanted it, he said that his client was the Devil hisself. Seems that Hell had run outta room and Ol' Scratch wanted to build an annex. They looked high and low for a suitable property, then decided that west Texas was as close as they could get to the original." Jack threw his head back in a laugh when he saw the boy's faces as they finally realised that he was pulling their legs.

That night Pablo joined them. Harry had to laugh as he watched the large man unwind himself out of the compact car that he was driving. The two men quickly attached a tow bar to the front of the auto and connected it to a trailer hitch at the back of the motorhome. They spent the next hour attempting to wire up lights on the car so that they would work in conjunction with the RV's lights. During that hour, the boys learned some of the most colourful language that they had ever heard. Eyes wide, Dudley exclaimed, "Blimey! I didn't even know that was possible!" This was in reference to an oath Jack uttered regarding a physiologically impossible act of self-reproduction. When the job was finally finished, Pablo asked to speak to Harry in private. Jack and Dudley took a walk to look at some cattle that were grazing in a large field by the campground.

"Harry, I want to speak to you about the prophesy. Mrs. McGonagall spoke to me and said that you have had quite a few misgivings about it. She mentioned that you had said something about the fact that you would have to become a murderer. Either that, or you would be murdered."

"Have you heard the prophesy?"

"Yes, I have. But I need for you to step back and look at this from a whole different direction. What Voldemort does is murder. He takes the lives of innocent human beings, both wizard and muggle. And right there Harry, is the difference. Soldiers in a war are required to kill or be killed. We do not call these men and women murderers, we give them medals and call them heroes. We build monuments to them because they left their comfortable lives and picked up a weapon in order to serve a higher cause. There is also the basic human right of self defense and the defense of other innocents. When a killer breaks into a house bent on the destruction of innocent people who are doing nothing more than attempting to live their lives, the homeowner who defends his family is no murderer. Neither is the neighbor who rushes to his aid or the policeman who stops the criminal, even if the officer has to use deadly force. In places like Texas, this is a given. In your country, your leaders have created a false sense of security, and when the barbarians are breaking down the gates to kill, enslave, and destroy, the populace falls apart. They have lost that god-given instinct of self preservation and the instinct to preserve other innocents by means of force meeting force."

"In the muggle world here in Texas, when someone murders an innocent, they have a better than even chance of forfeiting their own life. They now do it humanely, the same way that they destroy a rabid dog, by giving them a shot. It is much kinder treatment than what was suffered by their victims. The prison guards who carry out the people's justice do not glory in it, but neither do they shirk their duty. They are not murderers, they are the same as soldiers. They have been called upon to deliver the state's retribution on evil people who would steal the lives of innocent people."

"Now the muggle government in England has banned capital punishment, however the Ministry of Magic in England still has the death penalty. Until the Dementors left the control of the government, they used to carry out the punishment. I have always believed that was wrong, using an evil being to carry out the punishments decreed by law. It is far too easy to sentence innocents to death if you can keep your hands clean by turning the whole thing over to some soulless creature. The new form of execution is to shove the criminal through the Veil in the Hall of Mysteries. This requires human action, then the criminal is judged by the Maker on the other side of the Veil. With the Dementors, there is no possibility that an innocent person would be redeemed by the Maker, since the Dementors consume and digest the soul."

"Harry, I realize that this is pretty heavy philosophy for someone your age, but you are being called to duty as a soldier. Your mission is to protect the innocents of the world, both magical and muggle from a psychopathic murderer. This is one of the highest callings in the world. You are serving and protecting people who will never even know that you exist. You will also be protecting those who you love the most and who love you.. Voldemort created his Horcruxes by murdering innocents so that he could split his soul. The Auror who must kill in the line of duty does not commit murder. He or she does not tear their soul. The same with the soldier. You have seen terrible things, before this is done, you will see more. Your soul may become bruised and battered in your fight, but it will remain intact. You will heal, Voldemort will never heal. Each time that you destroy a Horcrux, you are claiming justice for the victim that Voldemort murdered in order to create that abomination."

"We will be having a lot of conversations along these lines. Voldemort has made you into a victim. Not knowing any better, you have allowed it. Harry, it is time to quit being a victim and time to become a victor. That is what you and I are going to work on. Now I see Jack and Dudley on their way back over here, so I believe that we should probably get ready to turn in. I want you to think about what I have told you, and tonight when you are sleeping, I want you to hold tight to the memories of those people who Voldemort took from you. Tell them that you are going to deliver justice to their murderer on their behalf."

Jack and Dudley walked into the flicker of the campfire. "Harry, you'll never guess what I saw! There are bleedin' cows out there with horns as wide as the front of a car! They are absolutely huge! Jack says that they are real Texas Longhorns."

"I'm kind of knackered right now Dud, but I'll definitely look at them in the morning." With that, Harry looked up at the stars that seemed to go on forever, then went inside. Dreaming of the people who loved and died for him, he had bittersweet dreams, but found himself filling with a new determination.

A/N: This is some pretty heavy reading, but Pablo is a pretty deep guy. As a side note, Pablo is from the New Mexico Navajo Reservation just west of Gallup. He met Jack when both of them joined the Marines during the Vietnam War in 1968.

Next up, the boys get settled in at Jack's ranch close to El Paso and discover College Football and Pro Wrestling... Believe it or not, there is a heavy lesson involved.


	6. New Experiences

_Interstate 10, West Texas_

The next day, the boys awoke to find Jack at the stove preparing breakfast. They had never smelled such a clash of aromas. When their plates were served, Harry asked what the unfamiliar food was. Jack told him that they were having Huevos Rancheros. Dudley furrowed his brow, then asked what that meant.

"The literal translation is 'ranch eggs'. You take a corn tortilla, soft fry it and put it on the plate. Then you put some frejoles, or refried beans on top, a fried egg, some salsa and some melted cheese. Then serve the whole thing as a stack. I have also made some hash browns with onions, chorizo, and chiles.

Harry looked a bit confused. "I understood about half of that. But leftover beans for breakfast? And fried beans at that? That just sounds strange." He took a bite. "Oh, that is really good, but….YEOW! Water! I need water!"

"That would be the salsa. Forget water, it won't stop the burning. The only thing that does are dairy products. Have a glass of milk instead." Harry grabbed the milk and let the cool liquid flow over his tongue, soothing it. Dudley rolled his eyes. His cousin could take on the wickedest wizard in the world, but couldn't take a little spice. He added a bit more salsa to the meal.

"Dudley, how can you stand that? I mean, it is good, but it is like fire." Harry poured a second glass of milk to drink after each bite.

"I don't think it is that hot, Harry. Dad and I go to Thai restaurants and some curry places. I suppose that I have built up a resistance. Mum won't go to them though, so the only time we go is when she has her garden club meetings."

"Don't worry Harry," Jack told him. "You will get used to it quickly, and I'll just remember to start you out on the mild salsa. We eat a lot of Mexican and other ethnic foods here, many are pretty spicy. There are some Cajun restaurants in El Paso that have a whole different type of spiciness. My opinion is this…. If it doesn't burn at one end or the other, it ain't worth shoving through the middle. I even get jalapenos on my pizza and hamburgers."

Breakfast finished, Jack pulled out a wand and magically cleaned up the dishes with the same spell that Mrs. Weasley always used. Seeing this made Harry a bit homesick and melancholy. It also made him think of something.

"Jack, Pablo, I need to know something. The details of the prophecy and the information about the Horcruxes has been the most tightly held secret that the Order has ever had. It has been on a strict need-to-know basis to keep the information from Voldemort. Even my girlfriend does not know everything. The family who helped raise me, the Weasleys, don't know. How do you guys, being pretty much strangers, know about the secrets?"

Pablo answered. "Harry, they are not secret anymore. Voldemort picked the details out of your mind when he had control if it. He knows the prophecy, he also knows that you know about the Horcruxes. Before the Ministry would help, they demanded the entire truth. Before we could help you, we needed to know what the problem was. It is the same as going to a doctor or Healer. If they don't know the symptoms, they can't treat the illness."

Jack jumped in. "It has had an added side effect, a good one. The Ministry has finally gotten off their half-moons and done something constructive. They have started a propaganda campaign against Voldemort. They have exposed him for the hypocrite that he is. He preaches blood purity, but is a half-breed himself. The Prophet has published, at their peril, Voldemort's biography starting from his days as Tom Riddle. They have exposed how he murdered to make his Horcruxes because of his fear of his own mortality. This has made a lot of the purebreds who might have supported Voldemort on ideological grounds rethink their positions. It has brought a drastic drop in his effort to recruit Death Eaters. The group that is with him are either totally brainwashed or controlled by greed and fear. Don't get me wrong, people are still terrified that he will win, and scared of him, but there is an undercurrent of scorn building at least in the pureblood population."

"Now we have quite a few hours of traveling to go, so I have an assignment for you, Harry. I have a DVD that I am going to put in the player. It is a biographical video about one of the greatest boxers that this country has ever known. His name is Mohammed Ali." At this, Dudley's ears perked up. "Dudley, I know with your interest in boxing that you will enjoy this also, but I would like you to start on your magic lessons. You can watch this later in free time. I want you to read the first chapter of your Defense Against the Dark Arts book and then write me a summery of the chapter. There is a notebook binder in the cabinet below the table. I do need Harry to watch this video alone with no distractions though. Harry, when this video is over, I want you to write down your impressions about the video and the man it portrays." With that, Jack left the inside of the motorhome to do a walk around safety and readiness check of the vehicle.

As the motorhome got on the road and the boys settled down at their assignments, Pablo cast a silencing charm on Harry's area so that Dudley would not be distracted by the video. Dudley had gotten to a place in the chapter where the author was instructing the students on proper wand control, instructing them on holding technique. Dudley got up and went to his luggage to get his wand. When he returned, Pablo's eyes grew wide. This was the first time that he had seen the massive dueling wand. To him, it appeared that Dudley was holding a sawed-off billiards cue or a short cane.

"Whoa! What do you plan on doing with that? Go hunting buffalo?" Dudley handed the wand to Pablo for his inspection. Pablo looked it over, felt the weight and then wrapped his hand around the middle of the wand. The wand began to glow with a faint blue aura.

"Yew, 18 inch, double cored with dragon heartstring and a green and gold phoenix feather." This was word-for-word what Olivander had said about the wand and Dudley's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "How did you do that?"

"It is my gift. I can feel a wand and tell know its properties. When I look at a wand, I can see in through each layer. I can also read a wizard or witch's aura, analyze their needs and build the right wand for them. I make wands in my spare time, each one custom ordered. The question remains though, how did you end up with such a huge hogleg of a wand?"

"All of the other wands rejected me. We went through Mr. Olivander's complete stock, and he is the best wandmaker in Britain. Everyone buys their wands there."

"Well, you won't be able to use that wand for your initial lessons. I have no desire to see you knock a wall out of a $120,000 motorhome. Jack might get a tiny bit upset, seeing that his is his pride and joy." 

"What can I do then? This is the only wand that I have."

"Let me see.." Pablo got up and dug around in a suitcase. "Here is one that I attempted to repair the other day. The core shattered and I haven't been able to graft a new core into it. It keeps rejecting the new core. I told the owner that it was a lost cause. You won't be able to do magic with it but it will give you the feel of a normal wand. If you don't mind, I would like to take a read on you and find out what kind of wand you will require." At Dudley's nod, Pablo took Dudley's right hand and held his other hand against Dudley's left temple. Dudley felt a warmth spread from his temple down through his neck and down his right arm. Pablo began to laugh.

"It is no wonder that Olivander could not fit you with a wand! Are you sure that you are not a Texan who got switched at birth?"

"What do you mean?" Dudley's face showed confusion. "Just what do I need?"

"I am going to have to let that be a surprise. In the meantime, use this dead wand for your practices on technique, and when we get to the ranch you can learn to handle that cannon of yours by blasting apart some boulders. I'll teach you how to use that dueling wand so that you don't jinx your own leg off. Now go ahead and settle down to your lesson."

When they pulled into El Paso later that evening, Jack took them to a store to get some cowboy boots. The Tony Lama outlet was there, and after they left, Dudley sporting a pair of alligator skin boots and Harry with a pair of rattlesnake skin boots, they hit two more stores. They purchased Stetson hats and athletic gear with the school logo of the University of Texas, El Paso, or UTEP. The gear had the school team name, the Miners, with a picture of a rough looking miner holding up a pickaxe.

"My old alma mater," Jack said. "I have a Master's degree in mining from UTEP and then studied Elemental Magic in Ireland, majoring in Earth Elementals. Then Gringotts hired me as a Goldfinder and sent me all over the world for a few years. They had me working on the commission plan. The more gold I found, the more I got paid. No gold, no pay. Those goblins are tough cookies to get a knut out of, let me tell you."

"Where did you take your regular magic training?" asked Harry.

"I didn't, and neither did Pablo. I was home schooled and Pablo learned magic from his Grandfather. The closest school of magic, down in Mexico, follows that same 'blood purity' that has your country so tied up in knots. They bind the magic of muggle-born and mixed children so that they don't have to deal with them. They also regularly kill Mexican wizards and witches who marry muggles. That is why Pablo's grandfather fled to the U.S. and lived the rest of his life on the reservation. The irony of this is that the purebloods are dying out. They are so intermarried that they are having a drop in magical powers, more children are being born retarded, and there is a huge rise in the number of squib births. They tend to kill the squibs, which means that the gene pool of the purebreds is shrinking, making the problem even worse. I figure that at the rate they are going, they will either have to change their ways or they will inbreed the wizarding population into extinction." 

"How did you guys meet?" Dudley asked. "I mean, if you have lived your life here, and Pablo spent all his time on a reservation hundreds of miles away, what brought you together?"

"Vietnam. Both of us had this insane notion that if we joined the Marines, that we would not be drafted into the Army. When you voluntarily join, you get better training than draftees. This helps you live longer. We still ended up in the war, but we had a better chance of surviving it. We went to boot camp together, went to advanced infantry training together, and ended up as riflemen in the same unit. Neither one of us knew that the other was magical until one day when we got pinned down in a crossfire. The rest of the platoon was killed, and Pablo and I were stuck in the same little drainage ditch facing the opposite directions. It was a desperate situation so I pulled out my wand and sent a stunning hex towards the enemy soldiers who were facing me. I did not realize it, but Pablo was doing full body binds to the enemy on his side. We both turned around, ready to alter each other's memory and saw wands each other's hands. Since then, we have been pretty much inseparable. "

"Are either of you married?" asked Harry.

"I was", said Pablo. She died giving birth to my son. He died two days later. Indians on reservations have the highest infant mortality rate in this country. The same with childbearing deaths." There was a trace of bitterness in his voice. "Since then, I haven't found another woman who would put up with me."

"You were still luckier than me". Jack shot back. "I haven't found that first one yet."

"And the way you are going, you won't. I remember when you put in that classified Lonely Hearts ad. ' Wanted, beautiful adventurous woman who knows how to cook and clean. Must have a late model pickup with a 4 hitch 5th wheel horse trailer. Send picture of truck and trailer.' " 

As the boys roared in laughter, Jack said, "I would have asked for a bass boat with and Evinrude motor, but there isn't enough water around here to float one."

It was then that Jack turned the motor home off the main road onto a gravel road. "Welcome to the Lost Canyon Ranch."

_A/n: Ok, now that the boys have arrived at the ranch, the training will start in earnest. There will also be some surprises coming from Jolly Olde England._


	7. Letters From Home

_Dear Harry:_

I hope that this letter finds you well. The few hints that have been dropped seem to indicate that you are all right. I don't know where you are, and as curious as I am about it, I get the feeling that I do not want to know. All I know is that you are far enough away that your enemy cannot harm you while you recover.

Several interesting things have been happening. The Ministry has had a major shake-up. The Minister was being very uncooperative until Professor McGonagall requested, no, demanded his help. They were in his office for over 3 hours. The next thing I knew, the Weasleys, my parents, and myself were sequestered at Hogwarts. There will be no classes held, but the Minister has decided that we are all essential to the war effort and wants us protected at all costs. He figures that Hogwarts has the best chance of doing that. Fred and George are furious! They had to leave the shop in the hands of Lee Jordan and go into hiding here. Every secret entrance has been plugged up and the castle will not even allow brooms to enter or leave.

All mail is also monitored. The owls must go through a checkpoint where they are checked for compromising information. I am bypassing this however, Tonks is free to come and go, so she is smuggling this letter out for me. She says that you can be reached by the muggle post, and that she has a muggle postal box that she can receive letters in. I will also help the others to communicate with you in this manner.

The biggest development is Voldemort having his life exposed on the front page of the Daily Prophet. Many of the purebred families are up in arms, either calling the article a lie or calling Voldemort a half-breed, saying that they knew he was somehow impure. He is having a hard time recruiting new followers, so he is relying more on the creatures such as vampires, werewolves and giants to do his dirty work. This is causing even more trouble with the purebreds. Even that toad Umbridge denounced him for dealing with unclean creatures. They found her the next day, dead, with her head compressed into a one litre firewhiskey bottle. It was quite the gruesome scene.

Bellatrix Lestrange was captured yesterday by accident. Neville and Luna were shopping in Diagon Alley when she appearated and attacked them. They had just a split second of warning, and Neville pushed Luna down and dodged the other direction. Her spell went right between them. Neville and Luna fired off countercurses, their wands crossed paths and their deflected joint spell blew off a piece of cornice from the building that Bella was standing in front of. It fell down and struck her in the back of the head, knocking her unconscious. The aurors appeared and hauled her off to a holding cell to await trial. This morning, the Death Eaters broke her out of jail. Neville, his grandmother, Luna and her father have been brought to Hogwarts for the duration. It is keeping Tonks busy relaying orders back and forth to the staff at the Quibbler. 

The public relations campaign against Voldemort has hit him so hard that Rita Skeeter was kidnapped the other day by Lucius Malfoy. He told a witness that "Lord Voldemort will be giving his rebuttal to the stories through her. I guess the Prophet put "a bug in his ear", ha ha. Voldemort's latest thing is passing rumors that you are either dead or hiding in terror of him. The rumormongers keep asking where you are.

Something else very interesting was printed in the Prophet this morning, I thought you would like to read it for yourself. I am enclosing the article.

Everyone sends their love, Ginny says that you are a prat, but that you are HER prat. She loves you more than you could ever know, Harry. There is no way that you will be able to insulate her from this battle. She is in Voldemort's sights not just because she is your girlfriend, he hates her for being a Weasley. They are a pureblood family who stands up for what is right and have rejected Voldemort. That makes them all worthy of death in their eyes.

Take care and hurry back,  
Your friend,  
Hermione

Exclusive to the Daily Prophet  
Staff Writer Marietta Snoups

**WIZENGAMOT CONVICTS VOLDEMORT IN ABSTENTIA**

**SENTENCES TO DEATH**

**_Announces10 Million Galleon Bounty, Dead or Alive!_**

_The Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour announced yesterday that the Wizengamot has convicted Tom Riddle, the self-styled 'Lord Voldemort' of multiple murders and High Treason. The Minister also stated that the sentence handed down by the Wizengamot was the extreme penalty of death._

"Tom Riddle has finally been brought to the bar of justice. He had a fair trial in front of the Wizengamot and has been sentenced to the ultimate punishment. The verdict was unanimous of all the wizards and witches who actually cast a vote."

"The Ministry of Magic is also announcing a 10 million Galleon bounty, dead or alive for the capture of Tom Riddle. We are not saying that our citizens should become vigilantes, but if some solid citizen, say, oh, Harry Potter should have to defend himself or another innocent person from Mr. Riddle and , say, accidentally cast a killing curse or one of the other Unforgivable curses, the Ministry would, I am sure, consider it justifiable. It is not as if Riddle has much of a soul left to have to worry about, eh?"

When asked how someone could 'accidentally' cast an Unforgivable curse, the Minister had no reply.

This reporter also questioned the trial in abstentia. The Minister told the Prophet that the Wizengamot had attempted to bring Riddle into the dock, however they did not know his location.

"Tom Riddle, also known as 'Lord Voldemort' was legally served notice that his trial would be held in the Grand Chambers. Since we did not know his exact whereabouts, we sent the notice attached to a vulture. The Wizengamot decided that if any bird would be able to locate Riddle, it would be that species. Voldemort signaled his refusal to participate in his trial when he returned the vulture, plucked, skewered, and barbecued, staked to the chest of the late Peter Pettigrew. The corpses were delivered to the Ministry of Magic via portkey by an unidentified Death Eater who promptly portkeyed back out."

In a related story, Minister Scrimgeour announced that since the trial of Tom Riddle had been so successful, all known Death Eaters would be subject to the same type of legal proceedings.

Lord Voldemort was not available for comment.

Dear Hermione:

I was really glad to hear from you. That article was hilarious, but completely in character for those numpties at the Ministry. That ass Scrimgeour is doing nothing more than appointing me as the Wizengamot's bounty hunter and executioner for hire. He is even giving me carte blanche to become a real murderer by using an Unforgivable.

Hermione, this I cannot do, I don't have the hatred necessary to cast an unforgivable. Voldemort will not be killed by an Unforgivable, because no one has the amount of evil that it would take to kill him that way. I know that I must be the one to kill him, and this I will do, but I will not destroy my soul to do it. My weapon is love, not hatred. Not love for Tom Riddle, but love for the people who have loved me and died, and the living who still love me. I learned a lesson about being a soldier for a cause from one of my new teachers the other day. I do not claim to completely understand, but I understand enough.

I have also learned another lesson. The people who loved me so much that they died for me gave their own lives willingly. I did not cause their deaths, their lives were given freely, and for me to blame myself is to degrade their sacrifice. Voldemort stole their lives, and I plan to extract justice for them. I will still grieve for them, however I can no longer allow Voldemort to use them as a weapon.

I am undergoing a interesting training regimen. I get up each morning and start off with physical training and boxing training. Dudley is in charge of that. After that session, we shower and have breakfast. Then we go down to the stables, saddle our horses (yes, horses!) and ride the fence line. We take a roll of barbed wire and tools with us. If we find any breaks, we must stretch the wire and patch the hole. My instructor says that a former president of this country once said that there is nothing better for the inside of a person than the outside of a horse. I certainly hope this is true, because after 2 or 3 hours on the back of a horse, the outside is pretty bloody sore!

After lunch I go with my other instructor into what is called a sweat lodge. It clears the poisons from my body and helps me meditate and clear my mind. It is possible to communicate with the spirits of my teacher's ancestors during the meditation. I have learned much about his people and the Way of the Warrior. Virtue and valour were a way of life with the warriors.

Following my time in the sweat lodge, Dudley and I go out for dueling practice. We do not use wands, we use old fashioned pistols. We started out with rocks, throwing them in order to improve our aim. My instructor for that says that I should not underestimate the power of rocks, at one time a man killed ¼ of the world's population with one. I have no idea what he means by that though. I do know that it has improved my aim and reflexes considerably. I now shoot a reproduction of an antique gun called a 45 calibre Confederate Navy revolver. It does not use modern bullets, it has 6 chambers that you load gunpowder, cotton wadding and a lead bullet or ball into. You then have to place what is called a primer cap onto each cylinder before you can fire the gun. It is very painstaking and you must pay a lot of attention to speed and detail. I can now load all 6 cylinders and fire those 6 shots accurately in less than one minute. Dudley is almost as fast, but since his fingers are bigger, he sometimes has trouble with the little primers. The interesting thing is that it translates to accuracy and calm while using a wand.

Speaking of wands, Dudley had a funny experience the other day. He had that great club of a dueling wand of his out to the firing range. We were firing hexes at some man-sized stuffed targets and Dudders missed twice in a row. He lost his temper and began to swear terribly. The wand had a blue fire shoot from the end of it. It blew his target completely apart, as well as the boulder that it was resting against. This uncovered a nest of rattlesnakes who came at him in a state of outrage. I had to plead with the snakes to let him live, all while levitating him out of their reach. They left, but told me in no uncertain terms to find another target range.

Dudley also found a standard wand to use. One of our instructors is a wand maker and put together a custom wand. The reason that Dudley could not match a wand at Olivander's is that the proper materials are not available in the UK or Europe. His daily wand is a 13" mesquite wood and on the tip is the fang of a chupacabra. The core is the jaw tendon of the same chupacabra. This is a magical animal from Mexico commonly called a Mexican Goat Sucker, something like a werewolf with vampire-like tendencies. Unlike a werewolf however, they have never been human or sentient. 

I must sign off now, I need to work with Dudley on his charms work. He is doing better at it than I ever did at that stage. Tell everyone I love them and hope to be back soon. Please give Ginny my love.

Your friend,  
Harry

P.S. Please tell Mrs Weasley that I will be bringing home a recipe for a dish called enchiladas. That and one for chile verde. These are fantastic!  
H

a/n: There will be a more training and more news as it comes up..


	8. Epiphany

_Lost Canyon Ranch, West Texas_

"I just don't get it!" With a vicious jab at the remote control, Harry stopped the video. So far he had watched the DVD biography of Mohammed Ali, one on Hulk Hogan, and over 50 hours of professional wrestling. He was having trouble associating the actions of these huge muggles with anything that he could use in his fight against Voldemort.

"Time to change gears then", Jack came into the room with a familiar looking videotape.

"Oh, no…not the football tape again", Harry moaned. "I don't know why you even call it football, they hardly use their feet at all. Most of the time they are throwing or catching the ball. You ought to call it handball…or catch. What you call soccer is really football. This is more like rugby with players who are afraid of getting hurt, what with all of that padding."

"Harry, there is a very valuable lesson in these tapes, but you need to find it on your own." Jack put the tape in and turned it on. The familiar colours of the UTEP college football team came up. In this part of the tape, they were playing a team called Fresno State, from California. The Opposing team's mascot was a bulldog.

"If I have to watch these tapes, why can it not at least be an entire game instead of clips from various games?"

"Because all of these clips have things in common., so pay attention."

Harry began to watch the plays in earnest, if for no other reason than to learn the lesson and put this whole American football experience behind him. He watched the teams go back and forth across the field, making notes on what the players were doing. It was not until an hour later while watching a clip showing UTEP playing a team called the Oregon Ducks that it finally clicked. He excitedly hit the rewind button and watched again. That was it!

The UTEP defense was lined up against a powerful offensive drive by the Ducks. The Oregon team slowly but surely drove the defenders back as they headed toward the goal line. It looked like the Ducks would score the touchdown on the next play when one of the defenders broke through the line, causing the quarterback (odd name, that) to have to fall back and look for an escape route. The defending player hit the quarterback, jarring the ball from his hands, grabbing it in mid-air and running almost unopposed to the opposite goal. Harry quickly rewound the tape, then fast forwarded it through various plays. The same theme ran through the entire tape. The defensive players would turn the tables, going on the offense even though they were in a defensive position. There were sacks, fumbles and interceptions, all of which turned the tables on the offensive team. His victory yell brought Jack running.

"Now that sounds like a Texas sized 'gotcha'". Tell me Harry, what did you figure out?" Jack knew, but waited for Harry to put it into words.

"In all of these plays, the people playing defense forced the offensive team into a position where they made a mistake. They did this by playing as if they were in the offensive position, driving toward their goal line. In one way or another, they obtained the ball and kept driving toward their goal line. They played defense by playing offense."

"You got it! It has been said that the best defense is a good offense. Playing strictly defense is a losing game. All you do is slow down the other team's victory. It's a sucker's game and never wins. When Dumbledore fought Grindlewald, he went into his enemy's territory and beat him on Grindlewald's home turf. That Dark Lord's muggle ally, Hitler, kept on the offense until he got to Russia. The Russians were falling back defensively until they got smart and went on offense. Between them and the other Allies, they drove Hitler all the way back to Berlin. They turned their defensive game into an offensive drive. At that time, they took control of the battle."

"Now your Ministry of Magic played defense against Voldemort, trying to protect their assets while Voldy drove them farther and farther back. Now, starting with this propaganda campaign, they are starting to play offense. They are cutting off Voldemort's access to new recruits and forcing him to turn to alternative sources of manpower. They have exposed him for what he is, an insecure bully who is terrified of facing the fate of all men, that of death. The only way to deal with a bully is to hit him so hard, knock him down to the point where he can never get the nerve up to fight again. Ever. In the end, he will be like a cornered rat, dangerous, but not insurmountable."

"He has been on the attack toward you, using your mind and your fears to beat you back into submission. You have been playing a holding pattern game and losing yardage with every play. He has attacked your mind, he has attacked your friends and family, all to get you to give up. Harry, it is time to go on offense and take the battle back to him. He has used fear, now you need to start using his fears against him. He has to be put on defense. And you are the guy that will have to do it. You have accepted that you may have to die to fulfill your mission. Voldemort cannot do that. If you die and take him with you, then you have fulfilled your mission. If he dies, no matter whom he takes with him, he has failed. He has no heir to take over, to continue the fight, he has only himself. And you have made him quite a bit less than he once was."

"What about the boxing films? And the wrestling?" All I saw on a lot of those is a bunch of huge apes beating the daylights of each other. That and those cheesy interviews."

"It is the interviews that I wanted you to see, the rest was entertainment. It is called psychological warfare, although around here, we call it 'trash talkin'. It is all part of playing offense, or offensive defense. It is what Voldemort has been doing to you, but with less to deal with than he has.

Pablo stepped in. "you have been trying to hide your thoughts through Occlumency for what, two years? How successful have you been?"

Harry grimaced. "Not very. Voldemort cracked my head like an egg and went inside to make a bloody omelet. This distance from him has given me the best night's sleep that I have had in years. At first I blamed it on Snape, but even Dumbledore was not able to help me that much."

"That is because you are not a naturally deceitful person, or a very secretive one. You wear your heart on your sleeve and hate it when someone hides information from you, especially if the information deals with your mission. You hate the words 'need to know', especially when it is decreed that you don't 'need to know'"

"Well, Harry, it is time to change all of that. We are going to kick your training into high gear and give you the tools to hit Riddle right where it hurts the most. So get a good night's sleep and be ready to get intense tomorrow. Lay off the physical training tomorrow morning. We will be starting at 5 A.M..


	9. Brothers

_Lost Canyon Ranch, West Texas  
5:00 A.M._

Harry sat down to his plate of chorizo and eggs, served with fresh hot tortillas and salsa. In the weeks since he had gotten his first taste of mexican food, he had grown quite accustomed to it. He had, in the past few weeks, been subjected to not just a few rare steaks. Make that very rare steaks. This was on orders from Pablo. He had decided that Harry needed quite a bit more protein in his diet to bulk up, and was of the opinion that a properly (read overdone) cooked steak lost most of its nutrition. Harry believed that he was being turned into a predator. 

"What's next?", he thought. "Catching my own cow?"

Pablo sat across from him drinking his coffee with chicory. " On the next part of your training you will not need your wand for the actual training. In fact, I want you to leave it here. This will not be the normal Occlumency lesson. In fact, Occlumency is almost worthless as an offensive weapon. It can help if you are trying to hide some deep, dark secret, but you are past that. What I am going to teach you is how to attack while still hiding anything that you need to, such as your strategy."

"What happen to you sixteen years ago when Voldemort attacked you was a fluke that could probably never happen again. When the killing curse backfired, a part of Voldemort's _"aioua"_ or essence, was transferred into your mind by force. This was the equivalent of mental rape."

Harry gawked. "You mean that I am the last Horcrux? What am I supposed to do, destroy myself?"

"Not at all. You are not a Horcrux, I am afraid that it would not be that easy. What happened to you is that a psychic bond was formed by the destruction of Voldemort's body. He was left drained with no power other than what was required to keep the shell of his being alive… although it was not much of an existence. "

"Have you ever noticed how powerful the Death Eaters seem to be, how they can escape from spells such as Full Body Binds that would immobilize a lesser wizard for hours? The reason is that every time they kill, they either knowingly or unknowingly harvest some of the power of the person that they killed. Magic is like oil or money, it is fungible. It does not know the difference between a good wizard or a bad one. Magic in and of itself is indifferent to the legal status of the holder. When a wizard is killed violently, or their body destroyed, a portion of that magic attempts to find a new host. It is the ultimate irony that the victims of Death Eaters are helping to create new victims."

"There are only three ways to create a bond such as you and Voldemort have. Legilimency will not create that type of bond, this is why the Occlumency lessons you had did you absolutely no good whatsoever. Until a few years ago, I would have said that there were only two ways. That opinion changed with your and Voldemort's bond. The other two ways are through Mate-Bonding and the Blood-Brother bonds."

"In the Mate-Bonding method, occasionally a witch and wizard will bond together so tightly that they can actually communicate psychically with their mate. I am sure that you have, at one time or another, seen couples who were so attuned to each other that they knew what the other was thinking, could even finish each other's sentences. In most cases, when one of them dies, so does the other."

Harry thought about the couples he had known. "I've never seen it with a married couple, but some twin brothers I know can do that."

"That is a different type of bond. Identical twins come from a split of the same egg. What they are is basically a clone. The more shared experiences that they have, the closer the bond. They do tend to drift apart when one or both get married. The Mate-Bond gets the two people closer with time."

"The third method, the Blood-Brother bond, is what we will have to do in order for you to train properly against Voldemort. This is a time honored ceremony that is also one of the rarest, since not too many people want to be disturbed or have other people, no matter how close, be able to peek into their heads at any time. The white man, in his movies and books, heard of the Blood-Brother bond, and being muggles, completely misinterpreted the whole thing. There has been a ceremony between muggle chiefs called a blood-brother ceremony, but it bears no relationship to the way that the magical ceremony works. With muggles, it is a means to end wars and join tribes together. With wizards, it is much deeper. You can sense when your 'brother' is in danger and be a second mind for him. If you are willing, I will take the position of your Blood- Brother. This will be the only way that I can properly train you."

"You mean that you will be in my head the rest of my life?" For some reason, this did not really appeal to Harry.

"No, the bond is, like yours with Voldemort, weakened by distance. It also works like a muscle. If it is not exercised, it atrophies. Two or three years down the road, you probably wouldn't be able to send me a message if you were looking in my eyes. It was really meant for people living within a few of hundred miles from each other. Jack and I have been blood brothers since 1968, and we can communicate between here and Gallup, but it can be kind of faint." Pablo grinned. "Saves a ton of money on long distance telephone calls though. I would say that the only problem that I have with it is whenever he has those jalapenos on his pizza, I get the heartburn."

Harry thought about how different things would be had he and Sirius shared that sort of bond. Sirius could have let him know that he was in no danger and would have probably still been alive.

"How would this work with Voldemort? The Blood-Brother bond seems to be used for people who care for each other. It is just the opposite with us."

"What Voldemort has been doing is kind of like sending you psychic 'howlers'. This would allow you to do the same, using his own weapon against him. And your weapon is much more fearful to him."

"What about your connection with Jack? Would that allow us in each other's heads?" Harry would not really mind having one connection, but he did not want a bloody telephone exchange sitting between his ears.

Pablo laughed. "No, each connection is unique and must be established in a separate ceremony. If I were with you in England, I would not be able to connect with Voldemort. I could only speak with you."

"In that case, I am willing to give it a go."

"Very good, meet me in the sweat lodge tonight after sundown."

_Lost Canyon Ranch  
The Sweat Lodge_

This was the first time that Harry had been in the sweat lodge after dark. He thought that the flickering fire, which cast the only light, was very appropriate to the purpose. He and Pablo sat across from each other dressed in nothing but buckskin loincloths and paint. The stripes and designs on his face and chest made him feel bloody ridiculous, however Pablo insisted that each design was integral to the ceremony.

The only thing that each man had was a small silver knife and his wand. Pablo had explained that only two who would walk together could bond. They had to have the same ultimate goals. You could not bind two enemies together, nor two people who could not be honest with each other in a Blood-Brother ceremony. It was a different case with Harry and Voldemort, their binding was more along the lines of forcible rape. Pablo also explained something else about the bond that floored Harry.

"I would venture to guess that most, if not all of the spells you have learned have been Latin or Greek translations, right?" Harry nodded. "Well, most magic in the world does not work like that. Remember what I said about magic being fungible?" Again a nod. "England has a Roman, and by extension, Greek background. Greek was the scholar's language, Latin was the vulgar, or common language. Most European spells are written with this in mind. The Indians have Asiatic backgrounds with varied languages. We also had to deal with the French, English, and Spaniards. We are able to do our magic in any language."

"The blood-brother bond has the added effect of translating the language of one person to that of another. It was originated during a search for a way for medicine men of different tribes to communicate. The ratio of wizards to muggles is very low in the tribes, so all magical people end up as medicine men or women. If a tribe has more medicine men than they need, then the extras go out into the nations and marry into a different tribe. This removed the language barrier between the tribe's wise men."

Pablo tossed a small amount of powder in the fire. It smelled like sulfur mixed with some type of flower. They took their wands and touched them together.

_"Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, mind of my mind. Bring these instruments of Power together for our good."_ Pablo and Harry chanted this together. Harry felt a warming sensation along his jawline and saw the paint stripes on Pablo's jaw begin to glow. He assumed that his was doing likewise.

_"Maker of all men, all tribes, consecrate these tools to our sacred purpose of peace."_ With that, Harry and Pablo touched the blades of the silver knives together. There was a quick golden glow where the knives touched, and Harry saw the paint stripes on Pablo's cheeks glow. He also felt his stripes warm.

_"In brotherhood of blood and spirit, join us together as one in purpose."_ At this, Harry and Pablo each made small cuts in the palms of their wand hands. They laid the knives down, transferred their wands to the other hand and clasped their wand hands together. When this was done, small ropes of light came out of their wands and wrapped themselves around the two men's hands with a silvery glow. The lines painted on their foreheads and the symbols on their chests began to glow. The fire snuffed out, plunging the sweat lodge into complete darkness.

"What?" Harry thought. "Did something go wrong? Did we fail somehow?"

He heard Pablo chuckle, not with his ears, but in his mind. _"No little brother, it all went right. The fire went out because the ceremony is complete and the fire was built for that purpose only."_

All at once, images flooded into his mind. From the viewpoint of a small child, he looked up and saw the gentle face of an old man, his face lined with wrinkles. The old man was giving him a reed circle with a collection of strings drawn through it. 

"Little one, I will put the dreamcatcher over your bed tonight. It will catch the bad dreams that have been troubling you." Harry felt gratitude flood his heart and knew that this was coming from the child that was once Pablo. He felt perfect contentment. He decided to reply in kind.

"I see bits and snatches of some memories. In the memories you seem to be happy, but still hold some apprehension. Who is the large man?"

"That's Hagrid, one of my professors and a friend. The memory I sent was of the night when he delivered my letter from Hogwarts. Up until then, I thought I was no different from anyone else except for having caretakers who hated me and an ugly scar on my forehead. Pablo, I am starting to get a headache."

"That's normal. Let's wrap it up for tonight and we can start fresh tomorrow." With that, the two fumbled their way out of the sweat lodge and began the walk back to the house.

A/N: _Aioua_ is pronounced **AYE-OOH-AH.**


	10. Spirits and Patronus

_Lost Canyon Ranch, West Texas  
The Sweat Lodge_

Once again Harry sat cross-legged across from Pablo wearing only buckskins. This time there was no fire, rather the hot Texas sun brought the temperature inside the structure to a slow bake. The two had been strengthening their bond, sending images back and forth while having non-verbal communications. The first few days Harry would end up with a headache as he gradually increased the power behind the broadcasting of his thoughts. Now he could send and receive with no signs of distress.

When Harry had entered the sweat lodge earlier, he had found Pablo already there, speaking with the spirit of his grandfather. Pablo's grandfather did not appear to be at the age he died, rather he had the appearance of a strong, young man in his late 20's. Harry sat down and gazed with respect at the spirit, remembering that this man had given up his comfortable life in Mexico to live in exile on a miserable reservation. All for the love of a muggle. Pablo had reported that since his death, he had reconciled with most of his ancestors. There were some who still carried on about being a blood-traitor, however the grandfather, Estaban, had slapped many of them down by pointing out that as spirits, they no longer had any blood to be proud of.

Estaban turned to Harry. "My grandson tells me that you are doing well in your studies. If you continue following the Way of the Warrior, you will achieve your goal. I tell you now that it will be worth it." Estaban motioned to someone only he could see, then a young Navajo woman spirit stepped into the lodge next to Estaban and put her arm around his waist. "Love is always worth it."

Harry had an idea. "Can I speak with my parents here?"

"No, the sweat lodges can only receive the members of the builder's family who are related by either blood or marriage. If the builder has a non-relative who is bound to the family by some sort of agreement, such as adoption, then they can enter the lodge also." Harry's face fell when Pablo explained this. "Don't worry, Harry. When you get ready to go home, I will give you a set of plans for a sweat lodge along with the magic instructions. In fact, I think that it would be great to have one of my people's buildings on British soil. I can just consider it a counter-invasion a few hundred years late."

At this, Harry and Pablo's grandparents had a good laugh. The spirits said their good-byes and stepped back into their own realm. Pablo turned once again to face Harry. "I will be leaving for a few days. I have a council to attend back at the reservation. I would normally take a portkey back, but I want to test you out for distance on our communications. When I leave, just start talking with me. Don't send any images, since they tend to block out my true vision. Wouldn't want to drive into a mountain while you are showing me pictures of a pasture.."

"Until I get back, I want you to work with Dudley on casting the Patronus charm. You guys will have to battle Dementors when you get home, so Dudley needs to be prepared. There is also a spell that I want both of you to work on. Jack came up with the idea and the strategy. Once you learn it and the strategy, you are going to need to use a pensive to protect the thought so that the enemy cannot learn of your plan."

"Speaking of hiding thoughts, how's Dudley been doing on Occlumency lessons?" Harry asked.

"Much better than you, Harry. He is able to clear his mind and throw up shields in no time flat. I think that his advantage is that he spent years vegetating in front of the television. You had to keep your mind active to keep from going insane. Dudley can also present false images to someone who is casually searching his mind. I wouldn't match him up against Voldemort or Snape, from what you have told me about them, but he could probably fool most of the Death Eaters." Pablo chuckled. "Last night, I tried to break through his shield and he treated me to 30 minutes of a British sitcom. Something called 'Steptoe and Son'… With commercials."

Harry smirked. "Sounds like Dudders all right. Just don't let him treat you to 'Fawlty Towers'. You might get hooked."

"No chance of that. I've seen that show on PBS. I hear that in our wizarding prison, the inmates under the death penalty are given the choice between the Dementor's Kiss and having to watch British TV. The prisoners choose the Dementors claiming that the other option violates the statute against cruel and unusual punishment."

"Do you really have Dementors here?"

"Actually, no. We could never make a deal with those creatures like your ministry did. They are too unstable and don't care who they attack. Instead, we ran open season on them and hunted them to extinction. We did send the last 20 in the country over to England at the request of your ministry. They thought it was humanitarian, we thought it was just stupid. Have you ever wondered where Dementors come from?"

"Not really, I am just glad when I don't see any."

"This is the least known secret of the wizarding world. When a dark wizard is killed, one who has magical powers, the part of his aioua that does not escape becomes a Dementor, always in search of a soul that they can use, but always frustrated because when they use the Kiss, it consumes and digests the soul. They also suck the happiness out of an area trying to replace what they lost. That is why when we execute dark wizards, the first thing that we do is strip them of their magical powers. They die as muggles at the end of a rope. Its kind of a cultural thing, the hanging. When the muggles changed their method of execution, we did not go along with it. We also do not allow the release of a dark wizard's body to next of kin. We cremate them and send the ashes to a landfill with the rest of the garbage. That way they can never be reanimated. With sentences like that, we have very few dark wizards here."

"How are you actually able to kill Dementors though?" Harry was really interested in this part.

With your Patronus. When you cast your Patronus, you then move your wand like this," Pablo demonstrated the wand movement, something like drawing an 'X' in the air and then punching the wand toward the crosspoint. "the incantation is _'Exuro Phasmatis!'_. This allows your Patronus to completely destroy the Dementor."

"But if a Dementor is created from the aioua of a dark wizard, what happens when a dark wizard receives the Dementor's Kiss? I though that the Kiss caused the soul to be consumed and digested."

"Harry, the ones that are created that way are the worst type. What happens a few hours after you eat a big meal? The physiology of the Dementors works the same way."

"EEWWW! That's NASTY! The worst Dementors are actually Dementor s…"

"No need to say it. And yes. But it only works that way with evil wizards. The light wizard or muggle who receives that treatment just fades away with nothing left behind. The dark wizard however has a will to survive in any form necessary. Governments who use the Dementor's Kiss as a form of execution are only making bigger problems for themselves."

"Sounds about right for a bloody politician. Every one I ever met only knew how to muck things up farther, never solve a problem. By the way, When you are on the road home, how do I contact you? All the time we have been practicing I have just looked at you."

"Good question! I want you to look at me closely and get a mental image of my face. When you are calling me, bring up that image and send your message." The two headed for the house. Pablo got a slightly distracted look for a few seconds. "Jack and Dudley are coming in from the south pasture. They'll be here in a few minutes, then I will be leaving."

Later that evening.

Harry had been carrying on a running conversation with Pablo since he left. It was five hours later and Pablo informed Harry that he was no longer receiving him. Harry had no problem receiving Pablo since his instructor had quite a bit more sending strength. Pablo instructed Harry to start trying again in the morning at one hour intervals to build up his strength. He heard a noise and saw Dudley coming into the room.

Dudley had 'gone native' in a big way. The only time Harry had seen him without his cowboy boots on was when he was doing physical training with Harry. The rest of the time he looked to be a real Texan. He was even starting to sound like one. It had only taken 3 weeks before he started drawling his words and losing his proper British inflection. Harry figured that if Dudley was here another month that he might as well stay. No one back home would be able to understand him when he spoke. Although he worked on his studies several hours a day, he was also learning how to rope and shoot muggle weapons with great accuracy. He could already ride a horse like he was born in the saddle.

Unfortunately his riding skills did not transfer well to a broom. Dudley was absolutely hopeless on a broom. He made Hermione look like a world class Seeker. 'It all evens out' Harry thought. 'I am still a lousy horseman.'

That had been a surprise and disappointment to Harry. As good as he was with a broom, he still could not get the hang of long rides on the horse. This made their daily fence riding quite the ordeal. Not only did Harry get off the horse every morning with a sore butt, but he knew in his heart that the horse barely tolerated him, and was probably telling equine jokes about him back at the old corral. He also did not like the cowboy boots. The sharp pointed toes hurt his feet. He had seen some boots that had a wider, non-pointed toe, however Jack had nixed those.

"If you can't kill a cockroach in a corner, they're not cowboy boots. Those things are fine for bikers, but they are lousy for putting your feet in the stirrups" Harry doubted that he would ever wear his again once he got home.

The boys decided to head outside and practice the Patronus charm. Dudley had the dueling wand strapped, gunslinger style, on his hip, but had also made a leather holster for his daily use wand which hung under his left arm in the style of a muggle detective gun holster. He had made the holster after his wand had dropped out of his pocket on a fence ride. It took over an hour of backtracking to find it.

After an hour and a half, the best that Dudley was able to produce was a light silver mist that only went a couple of feet past his wand tip. He and Harry went over the spell again and Harry reminded him that he should use the happiest memory he could find in order to successfully cast the charm. Dudley had been through his spoiling by indulgent parents, thoughts of Christmases past, birthdays past, etc. It was no use. Dudley had been so indulged over the years that these memories did not really have the power that they should, they just all ran together. Suddenly he stopped. "Just thought of something."

Taking his mesquite wood wand, he cast the charm again. Again the mist, but this time it started to form an outline. Harry could not see what the animal was before it was gone. Dudley stuck his wand back in the holster, drew his dueling wand and recast. The effect was dramatic. Sparks flew out of the wand, a mist shot out, formed the Patronus. Harry gawked. Dudley's Patronus was a huge Texas Longhorn bull. It snorted (Harry could imagine that he actually heard it), pawed the ground while looking for Dementors, then dove back into the large wand.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. "I would sure not want to be the Dementor in the sights of that monster. What happy thought brought that one out?"

"I'm not telling." Dudly sniggered.

They practiced for another hour, then went inside.

A/N: I am going to stop here for now, but there will be more intensive training soon.

_Exuro Phasmatis Burn the Spirit_


	11. Interlude 2

Interlude

_Dear Harry:_

It sure has been quiet around here without you. It seems that the entire wizarding world is kind of holding its breath waiting for someone to make a move. You-Know-Who has been very low-key the past few weeks. It seems like he is having problems keeping followers. We thought that with you gone that he might have erupted in a show of force.

The bad news is that he released Rita Skeeter. He had taken her to give 'his side of the story', but I don't think that it worked out the way he wanted. As soon as she reappeared and tried to file a story that was somewhat friendly to You (damn! ) VOLDEMORT, the Ministry grabbed her, announced in the press that she was under the Imperius curse and stuck her in a rubber room at St. Mungo's. She had also been tortured. I almost (but not quite) felt sorry for her. I still step on every beetle that I see though.

Harry, I know that you broke up with me in order to keep me safe, but it isn't going to work. I love you, I have loved you since I got over my crush on the 'legendary' Harry Potter. I will not let you get away with saying that you are protecting me, I am a target just by the fact that I do not hold the same views as Voldemort. Malfoy Senior has had our family in his sights for years. We are considered blood-traitors, remember? When you get home, I plan to snog you silly, like it or not. So don't even try to go all noble on me. We have a future together and I refuse to allow you to close yourself off from it and from me. I don't know if that future is 100 years or 30 minutes, but I plan to live it to the fullest, and the only way to do that is with you. This is my choice. I will be standing with you whether you like it or not, so you had better just give in.

A last side note, Snape is dead. The Aurors were called out on a sighting of him in Hogsmead. They found him at the Shrieking Shack just sitting there. He was bound and gagged and his wand was broken in 3 pieces and laying next to him. He had been driven completely insane, just like Neville's parents. The ministry didn't even give him a trial, just shoved him through the veil at the Department of Mysteries. He must have crossed his master one too many times. They still have not been able to locate Bella or Draco. They seem to have just dropped off the face of the earth.

Please hurry home,  
Love,  
Ginny

**Riddle Strikes Back!**

_Exclusive to the Daily Prophet  
Jeremiah Jones, Staff Writer_

With his recruitment efforts failing, Tom Riddle, the self-proclaimed 'Lord Voldemort', went on a rampage in Surrey this morning. He appeared with a crew of Death Eaters on a street in Muggle Surrey and proceeded to torture a family of Muggles in broad daylight.

An elite crew of Aurors quickly appearated to the scene only to find Riddle and crew gone, except for a unnamed Death Eater who was lying on the sidewalk tied up and unconscious. It seems that the other Muggles in the area had attacked the Death Eater, spraying him in the eyes with some sort of chemical that they called 'mace'. The Muggles then proceeded to beat him into a stupor. A source close to the Aurors claim that the Death Eater is the head of the Goyle family, however this has not been confirmed.

"It was really something!" a muggle named Robin Lowbrow exclaimed. Mr. Lowbrow gave a rundown on the action to this reporter before an Obliviator altered his memories. "When they appeared, it startled this old lady and she sprayed him with her mace right in the kisser! Then the others started pointing sticks at this family and red light came out of the sticks. The family members fell down and started screaming. That is when we picked up whatever was handy and started hitting the criminals. They were using sticks, we started hitting them with tree branches, rocks, bottles…whatever we could get hold of. Some guy came out of that karate studio there and kicked the crap out of the guy that got maced. Then the bobbies showed up and they all just disappeared! All except for fat boy there."

Although the Dark Lord has been damaged by this these actions, it appears that he is far from toothless. This reporter, along with the rest of Wizarding England is wondering….. "Where is Harry Potter?" And why is the ministry not able to take control and deal with Riddle? A death sentence does not do much good if it cannot be carried out.

_Dear Ginny:_

I am happy to hear from you. I miss you terribly. I also miss the others, but you are foremost in my mind. I have thought about what you said in your previous letter, and you are right. I can no more live without you than I can live without air.

Dudley and I are getting close to finishing our training here. I am now able to communicate with my teacher at distances of almost 500 miles. I am also able to shut down my mind using Occlumency to the point where the only thing that gets out is what I want to put up front. My non-verbal wandless magic has been the hardest part, but my other teacher says that I am progressing very well.

Dudley has been the biggest surprise. He is like a possessed person, working on his studies to all hours of the night, then getting up early. He has also been quite a taskmaster, with his physical training of me. I really think that I could join a boxing team at this point, although not in Dudder's weight class. I have bulked up some, it must be because of all the protein I have been eating. Dudley has finished all of his 6th year studies and has sat for the local version of his O.W.L.s. He passed in Potions, DADA, Transfiguration (although they call it transmutation over here), Charms, and Herbology. He failed History of Magic and Divination. But I also flunked those. He has not taken Astronomy, but he mentioned that he might try to do those back home someday. Don't tell Hermione this, but he nailed everything down quicker than she did. I did not tell Dudley that either…it would make him insufferable. 

Tell everyone I said 'hello', and I hope to see you soon. Dudley is attaching a note to Professor McGonagall. 

Love,  
Harry

Dear Ms. McGonagall:

Are you sure that will work? I would hate to mess up and leave everyone without protection.

Dudley Dursley

_Dear Mr. Dursley:_

There are no guarantees in life, but with the initiative that you have shown in your studies and the progress that you have made, it sounds as if the idea that your trainers have come up with should do the trick. Keep up the good work and let me know if there is anything that you need. Jack will forward your messages to me.

The book that is with this message is very important. From page 271 to pages 310, there are a number of spells that you need to work on. Use your dueling wand for these.

When all of this is over, you will have a great future in the wizarding world.

Sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall

Dear Harry:

We found the locket! R.A.B. was the brother of Padfoot. Hermione was cleaning out Kreacher's cupboard. We wanted to destroy it but Minerva said that we had to wait for you. It has been put in a very safe place to await your homecoming.

Moony


	12. Homecoming

_30,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean_

Harry sat in the first class seat next to Dudley reading a book about muggle police training and SWAT team tactics. He also had his headphones on listening to music. Dudley was also listening to the radio, but not to music. He had on a sports show that was rebroadcasting a soccer match between the British National Team and Spain. He was also reading a book that McGonagall had sent him. He had transformed it to appear to be a standard muggle paperback. Harry could tell pretty much what was going on in the football match by the expression on Dudley's face.

They had left the ranch yesterday and driven to the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. Jack and Pablo took turns driving, and the only stops they made were for petrol. They ate and slept in the motorhome while it was in motion. When they arrived at the airport, the two Americans solemnly shook hands with the boys, then pulled them into bear hugs.

"Quite a difference in you two since you came," said Jack. "We're going to miss you two. If you ever decide to leave England, just hollar. There will always be a place for you here." Pablo gave each of the boys a silver and turquoise necklace and a Black Hills Gold ring with their initials on them.

The boys boarded the plane dressed in their western clothes. Their wands had been transfigured into ball point pens, which they had in their shirt pockets. Dudley's dueling wand, along with Harry's katana sword had been packed away in their trunks. Harry had no idea of how they were going to get all of their things through customs, but Jack had told them not to worry about it. The other odd thing in their luggage was the 10 gallons of pure habanero pepper juice extract. They had spent two days crushing and squeezing the peppers in order to get that amount. They had to wear gloves during that operation due to the strength of the extract.

"There is something called a 'capsican scale' that they use to test the heat of the peppers. A hot jalepeno pepper registers about 5000 on the scale. A habanero registers roughly 350,000 on the scale. It is about the hottest thing on earth. At least in a liquid form." Jack told them. "If you get the juice on your hand it will break out in a rash and burn. God help you if you have some on your hand and go to use the restroom. They would hear your screams on the other side of the Atlantic."

"What on earth are we supposed to do with this stuff?" Harry asked.

"Well, Dudley here has gotten used to properly spiced food, figured that we would send him a little something to spice up the food at home." Jack grinned. "It is actually a little surprise for your enemies. Harry, I have to keep you just a bit in the dark on this one in case Voldemort happens to catch a whiff of it. Dudley knows and he will clue you in when its safe to do so. You and all of your friends have specific jobs to do and each knows their own part, but not everyone else's part. That is the safest way to run an operation like this."

Later in the flight, Harry and Dudley spent time figuring out their customs declarations and filling them in. Just about the time that they were finished, their was a dinging sound and the captain came on over the PA system.

_"Ladies and gentlemen, please bring your seats up to the upright position and fold in your tray tables. We will be landing at Heathrow in just about 10 minutes. The weather is a nice 72 degrees with clear skies. We hope that you enjoyed your flight and thank you for flying American Airlines."_

When the plane landed and taxied to the gate, Harry and Dudley got off and headed to the baggage area. When they arrived, there was a man in a gray chauffeur's uniform holding a sign with their names. Harry went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Welcome home, Mr. Potter. My name is Jenkins. I work for the Prime Minister's security detail and will be taking you through customs and on to your destination. May I have your passports?" Harry and Dudley handed them over.

Jenkins took them over to customs, handed the officer the passports and showed them his ID. The customs officer did not look happy about it, but he stamped the passports and cleared the boy's luggage without looking into it. With that done, he led Harry and Dudley out to a waiting limousine. They received a few open mouth stares from people who watched these two apparently American boys in western clothes get into an obvious government limousine. Jenkins did not give back their passports.

"From what I understand, these passports are not exactly correct. I was instructed to return them to the ministry." They rode in silence for quite a while until the car suddenly pulled over next to a nondescript brick building. The door was opened by a young female constable.

She winked. "Wotcher, Harry."

"Tonks! You look so, …so,… normal!" Harry was overjoyed to see a familiar friendly face.

Tonks made a face. "Lets grab your things and get inside." The boys quickly got their luggage and went in to the building. Jenkins tipped his hat at them and sped off. Once inside, they took hold of a portkey and, with that familiar tug behind the navel, disappeared.

_12 Grimmauld Place_

"Harry!" No sooner did they appear at Order headquarters than Harry was bowled off his feet by a red-headed tornado named Ginny. She tackled him, grabbed his ears and laid a kiss on his lips that was full of passion. Once Harry recovered from the shock, he returned the kiss with feeling, letting all the love and desire for this girl transfer back to her.

"Ginerva Weasley! What do you think that you are doing!" Molly Weasley stood with her mouth agape. "You let Harry up right now!"

Arthur stood there also looking bemused. "Molly, I think that you may have something burning in the kitchen. Let off the kids, honey. It has been a long time." He reached out to help Harry to his feet. "Glad to see you son. You're looking good. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen you so healthy." He then shook hands with Dudley. "I don't know how to thank you for saving Harry and bringing him home safely."

Dudley was overwhelmed as Molly and Ginny both grabbed him in a bear hug. "Dudley, I just want you to know that you are part of this family now. You have become quite the young wizard. Minerva has been telling me how proud she is of you."

"Did I hear someone call my name?" Minerva McGonagall stepped out from a room off the side. "No sooner did I floo in than I heard my name. Harry, Dudley, welcome home. Let me look at you. Its hard to believe that you are the same two boys who left. Harry is so well and Dudley… I see a confidence in you that I have rarely seen. You have kept me busy sending and grading your study work, but you have really pulled off a miracle with your studies."

"Excuse me, Professor," Harry asked. Where are all of the others?"

"They are at Hogwarts. We are only using Grimmauld Place as a transit point right now. We don't know how much it has been compromised since Dumbledore died. He was the secret-keeper and, since you own it, you have to name a new keeper."

Harry thought. "I don't want to put this on someone who Voldemort and his crew knows to be part of the Order. It would be too easy to kidnap or kill them. Dudley, would you be willing to be the Secret-keeper?"

"I don't know, Harry. What would I have to do?" Minerva explained the duties and Dudley nodded. "I can do that"

Harry took Dudley's hand. "In that case, I hereby name Dudley Dursley as the Secret-Keeper for 12 Grimmauld Place." A golden glow surrounded their hands. "Now, shall we get out of here and go to the school?"

Minerva produced a portkey and, grabbing their luggage, the whole crew disappeared.

_Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft_

When they got to Hogwarts, they were greeted by the rest of the Weasley clan, Lupin, Hermione and a very excited Dobby. They had portkeyed directly into McGonagall's office, startling the portraits. Harry looked over at the portrait of Dumbledore, but it was asleep. He looked questioningly at McGonagall.

"I really do not know why he has not awakened, Harry. Normally a portrait will awaken as soon as the funeral is over, or after a week of death. Albus has decided to rest a while longer, apparently." They got ready to leave the office. "Before you go, Mr. Dursley, I would like to try something." She got down the Sorting Hat. She placed it on Dudley's head and the Hat got to work.

_"Hmmm.. A bit old for this, aren't you? I see a lot of intelligence here, you would do well in Ravenclaw. You seem to have some guile and ambition also, but not really strong enough to be a good Slytherin.. Hmm .. I see that you can also work well with others, this is definitely a Hufflepuff trait, but most of all young man, I see courage. You gave up your comfortable life to help your cousin, stepped into a whole new world against the wishes of your parents. You have also spent months learning and training yourself for battle in a war that was not your own.. This could only mean…. **GRYFFINDOR!**"_ The last word was shouted aloud.

"I knew it!" McGonagall smugly exclaimed. She reached in her desk and brought out a Gryffindor tie and handed it to Dudley. "Mr. Dursley, I have taken the liberty of placing all of your test results into a record here. Even though you were self-study, the records will forever show that you have received a Hogwarts education. Every bit of material that you studied was part of the Hogwarts curriculum. Your American O.W.L. results have been entered into the records, and the Ministry has assured me that they will be honored on a reciprocal basis just as if you were an exchange student. Welcome to Hogwarts and Gryffindor House."

Dudley blushed. "I don't know what to say. I have just been concentrating on learning to survive."

Minerva nodded. "After Hogwarts reopens, we would be happy for you to finish your training here and take your N.E.W.T.s. You have made a nice little amount into your Gringott's vault. This would assure you of a good career." With that, the group headed to the Great Hall to see their friends.

Somewhere in England, Voldemort stirred.

_"Something is wrong."_


	13. Preparing for Battle

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

After a great meal served up by the house-elves and raucous conversation, McGonagall stood up and addressed the group. "All of you have separate assignments and you will be training with just your own group. Harry already knows what he has to do, but I will be assigning all of the others to their groups in the morning. Tonks and Remus will be with Harry whenever he needs to leave the grounds. So get a good night sleep and I will see everyone down here at breakfast."

Harry pulled Remus and Tonks aside. "There is something that I will have to do over the next few days that I will need a lot of help with. Moony, I need to go to Godric's Hollow. I need you to go first and set up anti-apparition wards up and create a two-way portkey that we can use to travel back and forth. Make the wards large enough that we cannot be taken by surprise while we are there. If they appearate, we can portkey out. It will take about 3 days for the project. We are then going to have to place the whole thing under the Fidelus Charm."

"What are you planning to do?" This from Lupin.

"Come on upstairs and I'll show you." With that, they went to the Gryffindor tower and Harry opened up his trunk to show them the plans for the sweat lodge.

"And this is important…why?" Tonks asked.

"It is all part of the plan. I can't explain it totally, you are just going to have to take it on trust. I need to build this at the site of my parent's home there."

"Harry, I've been there. There is nothing left, the house is completely destroyed. And after 16 years, even the ruins are ruined."

"So much the better. If it wasn't, I would have to clear it anyway. We should leave right after breakfast." Harry took a miniature trunk from his travel trunk, it was only about 4 inches cubed. He took the ballpoint pen out of his shirt pocket, concentrated on it, and transfigured it back into his wand. Pointing at the tiny trunk, he told them that it had to go along with them. "I'll see you in the morning." With that, he bid them good-night, grabbed his pajamas and headed for the showers.

The next morning, Harry, dressed in proper wizarding robes, headed down to breakfast. Dudley had not wanted to dress in robes, but had finally been talked into it. He wore the robe over his western clothes, complete with pearl button shirt, blue jeans, boots and Stetson hat. He also charmed his string bolo tie to reflect the Gryffindor colors as a compromise. The whole effect was as unique as anything that Mad-eye Moody or Tonks had ever come up with and Minerva pointed that out.

Putting on his best John Wayne imitation, Dudley drawled "Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." The whole table cracked up.

"Merlin, Dudley, You have gone completely colonial." This from Ron. "You don't even sound British anymore."

"That is the idea, Ron. Nobody outside this room should know that I am a wizard until the last minute." Dudley took a large helping of sausage and eggs, tasted the eggs and made a face. Taking his small wand, he pointed it at the door and said _"Accio Tobasco!"_ A small red bottle flew in and Dudley grabbed it and shook a large amount onto his food. He then took a taste. "Better." He said, and dug in.

"May I try that?" Ron asked. Dudley handed him the bottle. Ron shook a liberal amount onto his eggs and took a bite. He immediately dropped his fork, his eyes bugged out, he huffed and grabbed his pumpkin juice. "Dudley! I think the twins got to your bottle and put some liquid dragonfire into it!"

Dudley took another bite, rolled it around in his mouth thoughtfully. "Nope, tastes okay to me. Liquid dragonfire, huh? I was wondering what I was going to do for spice once my bottle ran out. Think they can send me some?" Ron looked at him in amazement.

McGonagall stood up and tapped her glass. "I believe that it is time that you receive your assignments. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, you three will be working with me in the DADA classroom. Dudley, you will be working with Auror Shacklebolt in the Room of Requirement. Harry, I believe that you have worked out your schedule for the next few days with Tonks and Mr. Lupin?" Harry nodded. "Very well, Ms. Tonks has asked Mr. Moody to assist her in her assignment." With that, Moody and Tonks headed out towards the front entrance while the others went to their respective rooms. This left Lupin and Harry alone at the table.

"So, Harry, I never did find out just where you were during your stay. From the suntans that you and Dudley are sporting and the clothes, I assume that you were somewhere in the American West."

"Yes, we were in west Texas, outside of El Paso." Harry then began to regale Lupin on his adventures. Remus sat there fascinated as Harry told about the different things that Harry had learned from his two American friends. When Harry told him about speaking to the spirits of Pablo's ancestors in the sweat lodge, Lupin perked up.

"Do you think that will work here? I mean, British spirits coming into an American Indian sweat lodge? It doesn't exactly go along with our traditions here."

"Pablo seems to think so. It is the form of magic, not where the spirits are from that is important. Other countries and cultures have much the same thing. In fact, our British and European spirits have been neglected here. Unless they leave a ghost behind, we tend to lose touch with them. The Mexicans have the Dias de la Muerte, or Day of the Dead, where the spirits of the ancestors visit them, the Asians communicate with their ancestors through shrines and meditation. I think that it is about time that we get in touch with our ancestors as well. Portraits and ghosts are just not enough."

"To speak with Lily and James again… Do you think that you can contact Sirius? After all, he is not one of your ancestors, strictly speaking."

"I believe so. He had a special ceremonial connection to me by being my Godfather. If he cannot come in, at least Dad and Mum can still speak with him. And also speak to Dumbledore even if I can't." Just then, Tonks stuck her head in the Hall.

"Harry, Remus. We are ready whenever you are. Do you have everything you need for today?" Harry patted his pocket. "Well then, lets go." They went over, touched the portkey, an old bicycle tyre, and disappeared.

_Godric's Hollow_

Harry, Tonks, and Lupin popped into a clearing next to a ruined house, overgrown with weeds and ivy. About the only thing left standing was the chimney. That and the steps up to the front porch. Immediately Tonks and Lupin, along with Moody, spread out in a triangular pattern facing outward. Harry took out his wand and the shrunken trunk, tapped it, and muttered an incantation. The trunk expanded to its full size, about 4 foot square. Harry then vanished the ruins of the house and transfigured the rubble into a small stone wall surrounding his building area. He also leveled the ground, adding the excess material to the wall.

"This is just in case unwanted visitors show up. There will be something to duck behind."

"Good thinking," growled Moody.

Harry then began to look at different trees, cutting off limbs and trimming branches, then levitating them over to the building area and weaving them in a pattern until they formed an oval, igloo type shape. He then began to transport mud from a small creek in order to fill in the cracks between the branches. By the time he finished with this, it was late afternoon. He quickly cast a spell that baked the mud into brick-like texture. He was dripping with the sweat from his exertion by the time he finished.

"Now comes the hard part. I cannot use any magic for the interior. I have to manually haul the interior in and then tomorrow I will come and do the installation." He then began to pull painted cowhides out of the trunk and, one at a time, take them into the lodge. When he finished with that, he began taking different ceramic pots out of the trunk and taking them in. The last thing that he took in was an old, hide covered book.

"That's it for today. I will need daylight to finish it, and it is about gone." Tonks brought over the portkey and they quickly left.


	14. Surprises

_Godric's Hollow  
The next day_

The five dark robed and masked wizards crept up through the woods to the edge of the clearing. After watching roughly a half hour, they stood up and stepped into the clearing to confer.

"I don't see anything different from the last time we were here." This from Bella Lestrange. "The Dark Lord says that he detected magic coming from here, but whoever was here must have already left. Nothing here but the ruins of Potter's old house."

"Do you think that we should go closer to make sure?" Her husband Rudolphus asked.

Bella looked at the ruins with distaste. "No, I'm sure that it was probably just one of those fools for the Order doing something on behalf of the Potter brat. Wherever he might be…. Probably keeping company with the Longbottoms at St. Mungo's. Either that or he is dead and they are just hiding his death. This is the only time that I have wished that the Dark Lord hadn't killed Pettigrew. He was an aggravating little twit, but at least no one would have noticed a rat hanging around in some of these places."

She suddenly stopped, looked down at her forearm, then at the other Death Eaters. She nodded. "He is calling, let's go." With that, the Death Eaters disappeared.

"Whew! That was close." Tonks said. "Apparently we set the spells properly. If they had come about 3 feet farther, we were going to have a fight on our hands."

"Yeah, but they're really slipping up. The Bella Lestrange I remember would have turned over every rock here to carry out Voldemort's bidding. They must be getting a bit disheartened that someone is actually showing some defiance toward them instead of just quaking in their boots." With that, Harry reentered the sweat lodge. He had finished the interior, now it sported painted hides on the walls and a fire pit in the middle. There were some cowhides on the floor to sit upon and a small rack holding earthenware jars filled with different powders and paints. It was now time for the dedication.

Harry took off his robes, leaving him clad only in a soft leather loincloth. He then pulled out a small mirror, and grabbing a few pots off the rack, painted the ceremonial lines and symbols on his face and chest. Once done with this, he placed wood in the fire pit and ignited it with his wand. When the fire was blazing well, he took some powders out of the pots, threw them on the fire and began chanting the spells which would activate the powers of the lodge. As he sat cross-legged, chanting, the symbols painted on the hides, one at a time, began to glow, spreading in a clockwise direction until all of the symbols cast a gentle golden light. Then the markings on Harry's body, starting with the lines on his face, took on the same unearthly glow. Although he knew it was coming, the voice in his head startled him.

_"Harry James Potter. I am the Keeper of the Gate between Earth and Eternity. You will speak to me only this one time. You must now name your spirit guide. Choose well, for your guide will be the only one who will be able to open the gate into your lodge from this world."_

"I name Sirius Black, bound to me in ceremony as my Godfather, charged by my parents to protect and care for me in my youth."

_"Well spoken Harry Potter. I call forward Sirius Black, Godfather to Harry Potter! Do you, Sirius Black, agree to be in the service of your Godson, Harry Potter, be his spirit guide and his gatekeeper between the two worlds?"_

**"Merlin, YES!"** The emphatic voice of Sirius rang in Harry's head. Hearing it, Harry almost lost his concentration, but recovered.

_"Very well, go to him."_ Harry could sense amusement in the voice of the Keeper of the Gate, and thought for a moment that it sounded somewhat like Dumbledore. Not the voice itself, but the wry good humor in the sound of the voice. _"Harry Potter, good fortune to you."_ With that, the Keeper of the Gate withdrew and the silvery shape of Sirius formed in the sweat lodge, sitting directly across from Harry.

"Harry, I can't believe how good you look!" Sirius snickered. "I would say that your wardrobe leaves a bit to be desired though. Your Mom and Dad want to see you though. When I was summoned, they followed me to the gate. Are you ready to see them?" Harry nodded. Sirius stood up and reached his hand in the air. Part of his arm disappeared. "James, Lily, come through." With that, the spirits of his parents materialised next to Sirius. He pulled back his arm and sat down. The arm now looked whole. Harry assumed that he had lost sight of the arm as it went into the spirit world while opening the door.

"My baby boy is all grown up!" Lily exclaimed. James cocked his eyebrow at Harry while taking in the body paint and loincloth.

"Its part of the magic, Dad. It is native American magic, something that Voldemort cannot detect. There are no good British spells for this."

"Whatever it takes, Son. We are always seeing spirits from other places and hearing them brag about visiting their families. It gets to the point where spirits from our traditions start feeling a bit forgotten. Maybe you could go into business selling spirit houses here. Make a change so that they look like proper parlors.. Not that you need the money, but it might be nice for our friends to see their families."

Lily took in Harry's garb. "And maybe figure some way to dress up a bit so the spirits won't be too terribly shocked." She smiled. "You are one handsome man now though."

James grinned. "Of course he is dear, he looks just like me. Your eyes though."

Harry gave them a rundown on all that had happened the past couple of years. When he told them about Dumbledore's death, they both looked shaken and confused. "We have not seen him, Harry", his mother said.

"What? I saw him die. I was there when Snape cast the killing spell. I saw him entombed! HE WAS DEAD! Is there some other plane of existence he could have gone to?"

"Not that we know of. I could ask when I get home though." This from Sirius. "As far as Voldemort and his gang of thugs killing us though, you cannot EVER blame yourself. We made the choice to stand and fight. We gave up our lives willingly, he did not take them from us. And don't blame yourself for Cedric either. He does not blame you, I have spoken to him since he arrived. He is happy where he is, but he does want justice. You have to put the pain behind you and deliver that justice. For him and all of the other victims of Voldemort's rage. You are our soldier, Harry. The scales of good and evil will be out of balance until justice has been delivered, not just to Voldemort, but also his followers."

"I will do my best, Padfoot." Harry swore.

"Don't just do your best, reach inside you and take the power to excel. Whatever sacrifice you must make will be rewarded. Cleanse the earth of those evildoers who have hurt so many for so long." This from James.

"I promise. I wish I could stay here forever, but I need to get back to the castle. The next time, I will bring Lupin with me. He really wants to see you all." 

The three spirits stepped around the fire and embraced Harry. Unlike the cold feeling when a ghost passes though a person, this was warm and comforting. Harry felt the brush of lips against his face, then Sirius reached up, opened the gate between worlds, and the spirits vanished.

Harry took his wand and put out the fire. He then wiped off the paints, then got dressed. Going outside, he nodded at his three bodyguards, then said, "It's done. Let's go home." With that, Tonks pulled out her portkey, they all took hold, and disappeared.

_Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft_

Appearing at the entrance of the school, they went inside. As the door shut behind them, a voice was heard. "Hem, hem". In shock, they turned to the side and saw a robed and masked Death Eater. Without stopping to think, all three drew their wands and fired off an assortment of curses. Nothing happened. The Death Eater pulled back its hood and took off the mask, revealing the laughing face of Ron Weasley.

"Merlin! You should have seen your faces!" Ron could not stop laughing. You looked as if you had been caught with your pants down."

"What is the meaning of this?" Moody asked angrily.

"Relax, it is part of the plan. We just had to see how it would work." This from Minerva McGonagall. She strode up to the group. "Mr. Dursley has been working on his part in the plan, but needed to test it in real-life conditions. It worked wonderfully. Mr. Dursley, please come here."

Dudley stepped out from behind a column. "What I did was nullify all magic in a particular area, that being the entrance hall. I just used my regular wand for this area, on the battleground I will be using my dueling wand."

"Why would you want to disrupt all of the magic in the area?" Tonks asked.

"Well, Harry has told me about how the Death Eaters always seem to escape as soon as the battle is not going their way. They will be expecting anti-disappearation spells, but they could still use a portkey. This way, the only way that they will be able to fight is with their hands. No killing curses, no severing spells, no Crucio… What they are going to have is oddly shaped sticks that do nothing against our weapons that will work. Ours will work because they won't be dependent on magic. And as soon as we disable a Death Eater, we will break their wands and non-magically bind them. We can also make sure that they cannot appearate when the magic is restored."

"What about when they are sent to Azkaban? They'll just escape again. Just like always."

"That is not going to happen." McGonagall said flatly. "The Wizagamot tried them all in abstentia the last couple of days and sentenced them to death. Of course, they did not come in to the court to defend themselves, but it means when they are captured, they go straight through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries. The Ministry has also taken a page out of the American Bureau of Magic's book and has ordered the extermination of all Dementors. We are all going to be working on the spells that the Americans have sent over to accomplish that end."

For the first time in ages, Harry felt hope that they could actually win this battle and come out unscathed.

"What's for dinner?" he asked with a smile.


	15. Confrontations

A/N: I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Having had some very creepy people break in my house recently, I have a very low patience level with criminals. The second part of this chapter is a scene I would love to be able to play out... and by the way, yes, I am a big fan of Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry Callahan. :)

_The Room of Requirement  
Later that night_

Harry sat cross-legged in the center of the Room of Requirement on a soft foam mat. Ron, Lupin, Hermione, Ginny, and Tonks were sitting in front of him in a semicircle. The lights were muted and relaxing candles giving off the scent of the forest burned around them. This was Harry's show, but they were there to give him moral support and intervene if things got out of hand.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" a concerned Remus asked.

"Yes, I need to start it now before I lose my nerve." He reached out his hands and the others clasped them, giving him an anchor to reality. He then put Voldemort's image firmly in his mind and reached out across time and space.

"Oh Tommy… Little Tommy Riddle… Where are you, you self important fool?" Harry broadcast with everything he had.

The Former Riddle Estate

Lord Voldemort sat in a large chair petting Nagini. He had just called in Bellatrix Lestrange to give her an assignment when a searing pain shot through his head and the voice of the person he hated the most blasted through his consciousness.

_"Oh Tommy… Little Tommy Riddle… Where are you, you self important fool?"_

"Potter!" he hissed. "You should be dead! Or at least insane by now!"

_"No such luck, tall, dark and ugly. The only insane on in this conversation is you. Also the only dead one. It's just that you are too damn stupid to realize that you're dead and fall down."_ Harry's 'voice' was confident, no, downright cocky, and this confused Voldemort. He quickly shook off the feeling.

"Little fool! Have you forgotten what I have done to your loved ones and what I have done and will do to you?" Voldemort sent the images of Harry's father and mother being killed.

_"Yeah, Tommy, but you left out something. A big something."_ Voldemort suddenly saw the image of himself casting the killing curse at the one year old Harry, the curse rebounding and hitting him. He felt the pain shoot through himself just as it did that night. He screamed.

_"Yes, Tommy. I whipped your arse that night when I was only one year old. Here's another golden oldie that you might like."_ Voldemort then saw the himself attached to the back of Professor Quirrel's head. _"Remember what happened there? How I took the Sorcerer's Stone? And sent your arse packing….again? Here, let me show you."_ Voldemort attempted to break the connection, but couldn't. He did, however show Harry the scenes of Sirius falling through the Veil and Cedric Diggory receiving the killing curse.

_"Yes, so you kill innocent people. Or have them killed. You had Pettigrew kill Cedric and Bella killed Sirius. You haven't even got the _cajones _to do your own dirty work. You're nothing but a bully with a gang to back you up. Even when I ended up in that graveyard, you had to have someone else go get me. And you still had your gang in back of you in case you couldn't finish the job. And guess what, fool? You didn't finish the job. I lived, so even though you got that monstrosity of a body, you lost. As far as the innocent folks, the ones who didn't ask or volunteer for this war, those that you killed? I'm coming to bring justice to you for them. I have it on really good authority that they are demanding payback, and I am the collector."_

"Face it Riddle, you're a loser. I have waxed your arse every time we have met. I am through with letting you affect me. When this is over, you are going to rot in your grave while everyone celebrates. See, I have a secret. I don't fear death. I know what is on the Other Side, and I look forward to going there when my time here is over. You on the other hand are scared to death, so to speak. There is no redemption for you. As far as I am concerned, without your punk-ass Death Eaters, you are nothing at all. I'm coming for you ….punk."

Voldemort suddenly felt the connection to Harry disappear. In a rage, he cast his eyes around, spotting Bella.

"Master, is there a problem?" Bella asked with concern.

_"CRUCIO!"_ Voldemort had his wand out and cast the curse. He couldn't think, he could only lash out. Bella dropped to the floor, screaming. **"HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME!"** He let her lay in agony for at least five minutes while he composed himself. Lifting the curse from Bella, he then summoned in all of his Death Eaters.

"Potter is alive. I want him dead, him and all of his friends. I have been saving him for myself, but if anyone finds him and kills him, they will be my most favored. Find them, kill them!" With that, Voldemort dismissed them.

_Room of Requirement_**"YES!"** Harry opened his eyes to see the stunned faces of his friends. "What's the matter?"

"You were bloody magnificent!" Ron said.

"How do you know?"

"I think everyone in Scotland knows. You were broadcasting so loud that we all heard you. We didn't get anything from Voldemort though. What was his side of the conversation?" Harry quickly filled them in.

Hermione jumped in. "What was all of that you were saying?"

"Well, when I was in Texas, I had to learn what was called "trash talkin'" What you heard was the way that professional wrestlers speak during interviews. Riddle is not the only one now who can do psychological warfare. I plan to hound him until we meet. I am going back in to see what he is doing."

With that, Harry closed his eyes again and sought out Voldemort. This time he did not announce his presence. He saw Bella being tortured and thought that it could not have happened to a more deserving person. He then watched as Voldemort issued his orders for Harry's and his friend's deaths. When the Death Eaters had left, Voldemort reached down to stroke Nagini. Sensing Harry, Nagini bit Voldemort. Harry withdrew, then started to giggle uncontrollably.

"We may not have to worry about Nagini. He may kill her himself." Harry explained what happened. "We do need to make sure that everyone is protected though. With that, the meeting broke up and they all headed down to the kitchen to score some chocolate from the house elves.

_Diagon Alley  
The next day_

Dudley had stopped in at Gringott's to check on the financial condition of his vault and pull out a bit of money to do some shopping. He had come alone over the objections of, well, everybody.

"You must be daft, boy!" This was from Mad-Eye Moody. "The enemy would give a lot to have Harry's wizard relative in their hands."

"But that's just it, Moody. No one knows that I am Harry's cousin. The last they have seen of Harry's cousin, he was a fat, British muggle. Now, do I appear to be either fat, British, or a muggle? Or would I look like an American tourist from Texas, a country which so far has decided to be neutral in this war because none of their citizens have been affected?"

It was true. Dudley now stood 6'2", muscled, wearing a moustache and goatee. He was dressed in western wear with a Stetson and boots. He had changed his bolo tie so that it now had a map of Texas in turquoise and silver. He also had lost his British accent and now spoke like a Texas native. All in all, he made for quite an impressive wizard. It helped that he had gone through a growth spurt during the summer. The inch and a half tall boot heels didn't hurt either. He was not the Dudley that Hagrid had pinned the pig's tail to.

Although they wanted to send an escort with him, Dudley nixed the idea. "You send someone with me, you might as well paint "Order of the Phoenix" and "Harry Potter's Pal" across my chest."

So now Dudley was strolling down the Alley towards Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. When he walked in the door, he saw that there was a battle going on. Two Death Eaters and the twins were behind different rows of cases firing curses at each other. The Death Eaters did not notice him come in, their backs to him. Drawing his dueling wand, he reversed it and cracked one Death Eater up the side of his head with the brass knob. The Death Eater dropped to the floor unconscious and Dudley grabbed the man's wand and snapped it. The other Death Eater had not seen this happen, but when Dudley came around and smacked the Death Eater's wand arm with the knob, causing him to drop his wand, he took notice. The Death Eater spun around holding his arm and saw Dudley flip the wand around to point at his chest. He then glanced over at his own wand laying a good four feet from him. Dudley saw that sideways look and smiled.

"You're probably asking yourself what the hell this yank is pointing at you. Well, I'll tell you. It is a professional grade dueling wand, eighteen inches long and enough bad attitude to blow a hole in you big enough to drive the Knight Bus through. And that would be with a simple disarming spell when I am in a good mood. But I'm pissed right now, and that means that I don't even have to speak, the wand reads my moods and acts accordingly. Now you may be asking yourself if a wizard as young as myself can even handle a wand like this. You're probably wondering if you can get to your wand before I put that bus-sized hole in you." Dudley said all of this with a deep Texas drawl while Fred and George looked on, also holding their wands on the Death Eater. "Now I guess what you have to ask yourself is this. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya….**PUNK?"**

At this, the Death Eater screamed, _"ACCIO….. "_ and all of the frustration and anger that Dudley was feeling blasted out from the end of his wand. A purple beam shot from the end of the dueling wand and hit the Death Eater before he could finish calling his wand to his hand. The curse hit the Death Eater, picking him up and throwing him across the room into a display shelf, which collapsed on him. The twins quickly bound both unconscious Death Eaters and gathered their wands. Since all shops in Diagon Alley had anti-appearation spells to discourage shoplifters, the pair would not be able to get away, even if they did come to.

Fred quickly searched the Death Eaters for extra wands while George called for the Aurors. Dudley walked over and pulled the masks off of the Death Eaters. Fred started.

"Good catch, mister. This one here is Rudolphus Lestrange and the other's name is Crabbe." Although the twins knew who Dudley was, they played dumb in order to keep his identity under wraps. "It looks like you broke every bone in Lestrange's body. But you need to move out of here before the Aurors get here unless you want to answer a bunch of questions and get your name and picture in the paper."

"Good idea." Pulling Fred aside, he gave him a list and asked him to send the items to him at Hogwarts. He started to pull out his money pouch, but Fred stopped him.

"Hey, pal, your money is no good here. You just saved our butts, even if you had to break a few things to do it. If you think that I am going to take your money after that, you're sorely mistaken. I'll have this stuff delivered to your, uh, hotel. Now you better scoot, I sense that the Aurors are pretty darn close." Dudley quickly left and hurried toward the Leaky Cauldron before the Aurors arrived.


	16. Of Spells and Horcruxes

_Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft  
Office of the Headmistress_

"So, Harry, when do you plan to destroy the Horcrux in Slytherin's locket?" McGonagall asked. "Also, do you know how?"

"I believe that I know how," Harry replied. "The problem is that I have to destroy all of the remaining Horcruxes. And I don't know where they all are. We know that the diary of Tom Riddle was one, the ring belonging to Marvolo Gaunt was another, as is the locket of Salazar Slytherin that Riddle's mother wore. Dumbledore was sure that Helga Hufflepuff's cup was one, it was stolen from Hepzibah Smith after her murder. In fact, her murder was what created the Horcrux. We don't have any idea where it could be however. That leaves Nagini and one unknown."

"Would there not be one more? I understand that he wanted seven Horcruxes."

"Actually, he tore his soul into seven pieces. That is the most perfect magical number. If he made seven Horcruxes, then his soul would be in eight pieces." Harry was confident about this. Hermione had located a 1000 year old book on the dark arts which explained the theory of Horcrux development. The book had been right under their noses for a couple of years in the Black family library at 12 Grimmauld Place. There were a lot of scary books in that place. Harry had made the decision to bring out all of the books on dark magic that could help another Dark Lord to rise and donate them to Hogwarts. They would be kept in a special section only accessible to the Headmaster and the Librarian. In the event that they needed to be accessed, it would take both of them to open the door to the room and take the books out. The special room had been spelled in such a way that if any book was taken out of the room, it would self-destruct as it went through the door. Any notes taken out of the room would do likewise. Harry had been all for destroying the books that were that dangerous, however Hermione had thrown a fit. She had pointed out that had that policy been in effect, Harry would not have had the information he needed to fight Voldemort.

"Meanwhile, the locket is quite safe here. To change the subject a bit, Harry, you have an appointment, along with Dudley, to go to the Ministry for your Apparition License this morning. Arthur will be picking you up here at 10 A.M. so that you can Floo to the Ministry. Do you think that the two of you are ready?"

"I believe so. I have been practicing in the training area, as has been Dudley. In fact, Dudley practiced quite a bit at the ranch."

"Very well, you have almost 2 hours until time to go. Be back here at 9:50." With that, Harry left the office and headed down toward the Great Hall. During his walk there, he was thinking about possible locations of Hufflepuff's cup. He wished that he could consult with Dumbledore's portrait to find out more information about Riddle, however the portrait had still not awakened.

Once in the Great Hall, he saw Dudley holding court, regaling some of the others with tales about their time in Texas. He had a large plate of bacon, sausage, and eggs in front of him, and his ever present bottle of Tobasco sauce by the plate.

"Dudley, what are you going to do when you run out of that sauce?"

"Open up a new bottle, I suppose. I brought back two cases, and this is my fourth bottle. I should think about ordering some more though, I only have 20 left." Dudley grinned. "What are you doing running around so early? Been doing some training?"

"No, McGonagall wanted to see me to ask about the locket that is in her safe. That and tell me that we have our Apparition License tests this morning."

"That works for me. The only problem I have is that the Ministry seems to be a sieve of information. How long will it be before word gets out that Harry Potter's muggle cousin is now a wizard and has an Apparition license?"

"I really had not thought of that. In that case, I would say either postpone your licensing until after this is all over or change your appearance some. Put on regular robes, shave that fur off your face and start speaking like a Brit again." Dudley covered his goatee and moustache protectively, making the entire table crack up.

"It took me three months to grow this, I'll not shave it. I will try to do the other things though. I need that license. Anything else?"

"Well, I have been trying to figure out where Riddle might have hidden Hufflepuff's cup. Dumbledore was sure that it was a Horcrux."

"Why don't you just wish it to you? There should be no need for you to actually go looking for it." The others looked at him, mouths open. Ron started to snicker.

"Dudley, magic doesn't quite work that way. I thought you knew that by now."

"Magic might not, but the Room of Requirement does. Or at least it seems that it does. From what I have gathered, whatever you really need in the Room, it will obtain it for you." Dudley looked at the others, their jaws hitting the table in shock. "What, was it something I said?"

"By Merlin, it might just work! I wonder why nobody ever thought of that." Lupin gazed at Dudley with a look of awe.

"Probably because it won't work." Hermione sniffed. "If it was that easy, somebody would have figured it out."

"Maybe they have, and just didn't tell anyone about it. I mean, if you figured that out, would you go blabbing it around?" This seemed so obvious to Dudley that he didn't mind Hermione's sniping at the idea. "The best way to find out is to try it. It can't hurt."

With that, they all stood up and made a dash for the door. Arriving in the seventh floor corridor across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Balmy, Harry told the others to try to think along with him, imagining Hufflepuff's cup. He then walked in front of the wall, back and forth three times. The door appeared. Holding his breath, he opened the door. There, sitting on a small platform in the middle of the room, was the cup. There was also a glass of pumpkin juice and a sweet roll.

"What in the world?" Harry was almost afraid to touch the cup, afraid that it would vanish. He turned his attention to the glass of juice and the roll. He cocked his eyebrow.

Ron turned fiery red. "I… I'm sorry Harry, but I was still hungry. We weren't finished eating you see…"

They all laughed. "I wonder if we can do this to bring Nagini here." Harry pondered.

"I don't see why not," Lupin said. "The question that I would ask is this. Do you really want her here?"

"NO!" said 4 voices emphatically.

"I would say that that idea is a non-starter." Remus chuckled.

"I'm still going to keep it in mind as a last ditch measure" said Harry stubbornly. He picked up the cup and immediately felt the shadow of Voldemort's evil. "So, one-seventh of Riddle's soul is in here. Hmm."

"Oh, no, Harry. It is not nearly that much." Said Hermione. "Of course, it depends on which order he created the Horcruxes. Don't you remember me explaining that?"

Harry had a vague idea of the conversation, but had been exhausted at the time, so he did not have all the details. "Run it by me again."

"Riddle might have thought that he was making equal Horcruxes, but when he made the first one, that tore his soul in half. Then the next one tore what soul he had left in half, or one-quarter went into that one. Then the next, one-eighth, and so on. What he has left in him is only one-sixty fourth of a soul. That is not enough to even consider him human anymore. Think what he would be able to do if he recovered the one-half Horcrux."

"That won't happen. At least I don't think it can happen. I believe the first one I destroyed, Riddle's diary, had that piece." Harry looked at his watch. "We had better get going, we have to be in McGonagall's office in 10 minutes. I'll take the cup and have her put it with the locket." With that, they left.

_Ministry of Magic_

"How can I help you?" The welcome witch was perky and charming. She had obviously not been working for the government for very long, Harry thought. Give her another couple of years and she would be as surly as a blast-ended skrewt.

"Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley to take Apparition Tests" She smiled. 

"Big day, huh? Oh, Harry Potter! Could I have your autograph?" She squealed and held out a parchment notebook and quill. Harry blushed.

"Uh, sure.. I guess so" He took the notebook and scrawled his name in it. He handed it back to her and she pointed at the Security Wizard inside.

"Just register your wands and I will call for Mr. Weasley." The boys went to the Security Wizard and handed him their wands. Harry did not have any problem with that, but when he went to read Dudley's, it came back with "_unknown materials_" warning. The officer got a confused look.

"That's never happened before. What is this wand's specs?"

"13" mesquite wood and on the tip is the fang of a chupacabra. The core is the jaw tendon of the same chupacabra."

"Oh, a non-standard wand. Just what the heck is a chupacabra?"

"It is more commonly referred to as a Mexican Goat Sucker. It was a custom make from the colonies." The wizard inputted the information and handed the wand back to Dudley.

"Here you go. Now we have a new update in our database. You should not have that problem again. And now that wand has been registered to you. Whoops.. it also says that you have another wand from Olivander's. Where is it and why do you have two?"

"The other wand is a dueling wand, a collector's item. I can't really use something like that for everyday, can I?"

The wizard smiled. "Certainly not. People would think that you were starting a new war. I wish I had the Galleons to afford a wand like that for a hobby. Well, here is your escort." Arthur Weasley came up to the checkpoint.

"Well, you fellows ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be", said Harry. Dudley nodded.

"Well, let's get you to your testing area."

_One hour later_

The boys came out of the testing area, shiny new licenses in their pockets. Dudley spotted a sign that said _'Public Tours'._

"Harry, could we take a few minutes to take the tour? I'm kind of new to all of this and I'd like to see a bit of this world."

"I suppose so. The last time I was here I didn't have much of a chance to sightsee. And we do really need a bit of a break."

The boys got in the small queue to take the tour. An hour later, after having been given a condensed version of the history of wizarding in Britain, they came to a room labeled _'Historical Artifacts'_. Many of the items were weapons of war carried by different wizards and witches throughout history, personal items such as magical jewelry and other objects of power. One wall had a display labeled _'Hogwarts Founders'_. In the area Gryffindor's Shield, separated from his sword hung on the wall. Harry went close to it to see if he could detect anything strange about it. One of the theories that had been bandied around was that the sword was one of the Horcruxes, but Harry didn't buy it. He had used the sword against Voldemort, something that he doubted would have been possible had it have been a Horcrux. He brushed his hand over the shield and felt nothing. It was just a shield, nothing more. He also performed the same test with Hufflepuff's dress robe and Slytherin's grimoire, or spell-book. 

There was one more case, a lit display case. As Harry walked up to it, a sharp pain shot through his scar. He gasped when he saw what it contained. A small plaque read, **_'Rowena Ravenclaw's Wand'_**

Harry was desperate to touch the wand, to make sure that was what had caused the reaction. The case, however, was sealed to insure that no one could steal it. Harry hid his reaction and quickly hustled Dudley out of the tour line and out the entrance.

"I found the last Horcrux, cousin!" It was Ravenclaw's wand!" Harry said excitedly. We just have to figure out how to get it out of here."

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can get. We need to get back to McGonagall." The boys agreed to meet at the Shrieking Shack gate in Hogsmead and then used their first legal non-training apparition to get them there.

_A/N: I had a "senior moment" when I was doing the math on Voldy's soul and actually ran the figures as eight divisions. (7 hurcruxes + voldy) Many thanks  
to Thelovinspoonful over at for catching that so quickly. It's all better now though. (And to think that I was an accounting major!)_


	17. Ravenclaw's Wand?

_Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft_

"And that's pretty much it. I think that it kind of ironic that Riddle chose to let the Ministry guard his Horcrux while he was plotting to overthrow the Ministry." Harry had filled everyone in on finding Ravenclaw's wand with the Horcrux in the Ministry tour.

"Well, couldn't you go ahead and call it to the Room of Requirement the same way that you did Hufflepuff's cup?" This from Lupin. "After all, it would save a lot of problems if it could just be wished here"

"No time like the present to find out." Harry stood up and the rest of his friends followed suit. "By the way, has anyone seen Neville lately? I don't think that I have seen him twice since I got here."

"Neville and his grandmother have been staying at Order Headquarters since it has been re-secured. He is working with Shacklebolt on his part of the plan." McGonagall looked pointedly at Harry. "We always had problems with the Death Eaters and Voldemort breaking out of custody. Neville came up with something that could prevent that."

They arrived in the corridor on the seventh floor. Harry and the others did the same procedure as the last time, only substituting Ravenclaw's wand for Hufflepuff's cup. The door appeared, and they stepped through. There on a small platform was a wand, although it was not the wand that Harry and Dudley had seen at the Ministry. This wand had been broken in three pieces and was not much more than a collection of splinters. Harry gawked, but Hermione had a smug look on her face.

"Its obvious what happened, Harry. The wand in the Ministry never belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. The same thing happened with the Muggle Catholic and Orthodox churches, starting in the early years of the churches. They venerated certain relics of the saints. If you looked at all of the collections in churches and cathedrals, not to mention private collections blessed by Rome, you could find enough bones to make seven or eight complete skeletons of each Apostle. And there are enough 'slivers of the True Cross' to rebuild Noah's Ark. What actually happened to the real relics has been lost to history since no one ever thinks to grab the souvenirs at the time, they don't consider them important."

"The cross is a good example. The Christian God, Y'shua, or as we know him, Jesus, was crucified on a criminal's cross, then taken off the cross and buried. His disciples fled the area and hid until history tells us that he was resurrected. They were not out carving up the instrument of execution in order to have things to venerate, this would be a very non-jewish thing to do, somewhat on the order of making an idol. The Romans probably reused the cross several more times, since it was surely made out of good, solid hardwood. Meanwhile, the Christians had their resurrected rabbi and did not need reminders. Their sacraments were the only reminder they needed when he left the second time. As for the bones of saints, the Roman church changed some policies making it a virtue to go on pilgrimages to see these relics, allowing their faithful to lessen time in Purgatory for themselves and their loved ones by helping support these collections. It was a visible sign of faith. The problem with this was that they really did not have true relics. This is where free enterprise stepped in and provided what the church and people wanted. As long as it was blessed by the church, they figured that no harm was done."

"The same thing with Ravenclaw's wand. The wizarding world is hungry for relics of our ancestors. Whenever there is a market, a supplier will step in to provide for that market. The original wand was lost, so someone who knew that probably stepped in with a replacement and passed it off. If the person who had it had died, there would be no one that could say that this was not her wand. Then it got passed down from family member to family member until the Ministry took possession of it. By then, it was accepted by all as the real thing."

"So what you're saying is that Voldemort got duped?" Ron asked.

"Exactly. And so did everyone else. You couldn't call up the wand from the Ministry since what you specifically asked for was 'Ravenclaw's Wand'. The real one is right here."

McGonagall went forward and put the pieces of the wand into a small kerchief. "I will put the real Ravenclaw Wand into the Hogwarts vaults. It should not be lost to history again. It also has a stronger tie to the school than it does to the Ministry."

"Well, this is all well and good, but what do we do now?" Harry asked.

Hermione answered. "Why don't you just go out of the room and then try to do the same summoning, this time asking for the wand at the Ministry with Voldemort's Horcrux inside?"

They left the room and did as Hermione suggested. The wall stayed blank. "Somehow I didn't think that it would be quite that easy." Hermione said. I believe that the castle will not allow in an object that it knows to be evil in this way. Either that, or there are spells on the actual wand that would prevent it from being taken. That would make sense if they believed it to be the real thing."

"So it looks like we will have to stage a raid at the Ministry itself." Ron said.

" I don't know if it will have to be an actual raid," said McGonagall. " Since the Ministry has been cooperating, we may be able to handle it differently. I believe that Mr. Moody and I can make a deal that would be beneficial for all involved. I do have to know though, have you figured out a way to separate the Horcruxes and destroy the parts of the soul?"

"I believe that I have that figured out. I think that I can do it on the objects without destroying them, but I am not sure if a living Horcrux like Nagini would survive. I'm not sure how I feel about that, I don't believe that she is actually evil herself."

"Excellent! If you can do that, then I can offer them Slytherin's Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup for their collections."

"Don't forget the damaged ring that Marvolo Gaunt had which belonged to Slytherin." 

McGonagall started. "I had forgotten about that. They might start a new collection of the 'Destroyed Horcruxes of Voldemort' after you defeat him."

"I seriously doubt that," Harry said. "Most people don't even know that Horcruxes exist, and I don't believe that the Ministry would want to let that particular cat out of the bag."

"You're probably right. Well, I can at least offer them the artifacts. Moody, let's go make a deal with the devil. We will be back as soon as possible." With that, McGonagall and Moody left to travel to the Ministry.

_The next morning_

"That was singularly unsatisfying"

The battle team was gathered in McGonagall's office to learn what she had achieved at the Ministry. "The good news is that they accepted that the wand was a horcrux. The bad news is that they still will not allow it to leave the Ministry. The Minister told me that if you could neutralise the Horcrux at the Ministry, he would allow it."

"That may be for the best, Professor. If we have Ministry cooperation, then we can have plenty of protection while I go about destroying the Horcruxes. We can do all of them at the same time."

"I will arrange it then. Be ready to leave at a moments notice." Minerva tossed a pinch of Floo powder into the fireplace, said, "Ministry of Magic" and stepped inside.

Harry looked at Dumbledore's portrait. It was still sleeping.


	18. Destroying Horcruxes

**Chapter 18**

**Destroying Horcruxes**

_Ministry of Magic  
The same night_

The fireplace glowed green for a moment as it ejected, one at a time, Harry, Dudley, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Harry had made it through fairly gracefully, however Dudley was inexperienced with this form of travel. He landed on his posterior and the others following him landed on him in a pile of arms and legs.

As they untangled themselves, they found that they were in the middle of a circle of Aurors, all with wands pointed directly at them. "Whoa! Were the good guys!" Dudley yelled.

"Just making sure." Shacklebolt stepped forward. "Do you have the other objects?"

Harry held out the bag he was carrying. Inside were the remains of Riddle's diary and Gaunt's ring, along with the Slytherin Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup. Shacklebolt took it and they all headed into the museum room that held the artifacts. "Are you sure this will work?" he asked. 

"Everything that I have read on the subject indicates that it will," Harry said. "I have the spell to extract the pieces of the soul, that should leave the artifacts intact. The reason that Gaunt's Ring had to be destroyed was that the soul fraction inside would have attached itself to Dumbledore upon being freed. He had to destroy the soul while it was inside the ring, and the spell backfired on him. That is what happened to his arm."

Shacklebolt set the different objects up on a platform. First came the ruined diary, then the ring, then Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's Locket and finally, the fake Ravenclaw Wand. "I'm not sure why you needed to have the destroyed Horcruxes here though."

"All part of the plan", Harry explained. "Are the Anti-Apparition wards up? And the Floo fireplaces unhooked from the network?"

"Yes, we unhooked them as soon as you came through, and there are 25 of the Ministry's finest Aurors here to make sure that you are not disturbed."

"Alright then. Its time that we get started." With that, Harry and the others stood in a semicircle around the objects. He reached out with his mind toward Voldemort.

"Oh, Tom…. I have something to show you." He felt the connection stabilize.

_"YOU!!"_ Voldemort hissed. _"What do you think you are doing?"_

"Tom, look and see what I'm seeing" Harry looked at the Diary. "Remember this? It was your first Horcrux. I destroyed it in the Chamber of Secrets when I beat you there. And I was only 12 years old… You were pathetic." He turned his gaze to Marvolo Gaunt's ring. He 'heard' Voldemort give an inward hiss. "Yeah, Tom.. Dumbledore killed off this Horcrux. He hurt himself badly doing it, but he didn't have the tools that I have."

Voldemort was strangely quite, but then said, _"That is only two. It is a loss, that I will admit Harry. But that doesn't change the fact that I still have 4 more. I can even sacrifice one or two and still be ahead."_

"But can you sacrifice them all?" Harry turned his gaze to Hufflepuff's Cup. He felt Voldemort stiffen. Taking up his wand, he nodded to the others.

_"DILIGO PROSAPIA!"_ Dudley pointed his wand and a bright blue light shot from it and hit the cup.

_"DILIGO AMICTIA!"_ This from Ron and Hermione. A silver light came from each of their wands and hit the cup.

_"DILIGO MATERIA!"_ Ginny shot out her beam. The four beams of light held as Harry cried out,

_"SECEDO ANIMUS!"_ A purple light shot from Harry's wand, hitting the Horcrux. A light began escaping from the cup, but then it connected with the beams from the wands of Harry's friends.

Voldemort screamed in pain. Harry's scar started to throb, but he ignored it. When the Horcrux soul had dissipated, Harry 'heard' Voldemort scream at his Death Eaters to find Harry and stop him. Harry immediately turned his attention to the Locket.

"Remember this one, Tom? Regulus Black stole it from the cave. He knew what it was, but he never got the chance to destroy it. We are going to do that now." The five held their wands on the Locket and repeated their spells, to the same effect.

"And now for the big one. You really had us fooled on this one, Tom. I found that it was a Horcrux, but it wasn't what it was advertised. You were duped into thinking that it was Ravenclaw's wand, but it was not. The real wand look like this." Harry shot an image of the real, splintered wand at Voldemort. "It did serve its purpose, and it was safely guarded by the Ministry for all these years…. You must have gotten a kick out of that. But all bad things must come to an end." They raised their wands and repeated their spells. Voldemort again screamed in pain and rage.

"So that takes care of five. Are you ready for the last one?" At this, Harry felt Voldemort stiffen with resolve.

_"You can't know what the last Horcrux is if you think that you can take it. I happen to know exactly where the last one is located. This means that you can never be rid of me. I will kill you slowly, boy! You will beg me for death!"_

Harry reached into Voldemort's mind, battering down his shields. For someone who was so strong at Legilimency, Voldemort had very poor Occlumency shields. He 'felt' Nagini wrapped around Voldemort, then connected with that part of Voldemort that was in Nagini.

_"Nagini,"_ he hissed in Parseltongue , _"Come to me."_ He felt Voldemort reel in shock as Nagini began to unwrap herself.

_"NO!!! Nagini, he only wants to kill you!"_ Voldemort cried out to the snake.

_"Isss thisss true?"_ hissed Nagini to Harry.

"Nagini, I believe that I can remove that part of your master from you without hurting you." Harry projected at the snake. "I cannot promise you that I can, but it will give you a chance at freedom. It is a risk, but it is up to you whether you take it. Otherwise I will be forced to kill you when I see you to prevent Voldemort from returning." He and Voldemort waited with bated breath for the snake's answer.

_"To beee freeeee…"_

_"NO!"_ yelled Voldemort. _"You will not desert me!"_ Voldemort struck out with his wand and placed Nagini in a full body bind. _"You will stay with me whether you like it or not!"_

"_Freee meeee!!_" The snake hissed in its mind. Harry felt pity for the creature. Nagini was not evil in and of herself. The part of Voldemort controlling her had made her do things that she would have never done in the wild. As Voldemort's Horcruxes were destroyed, he lost some of that connection and control. This allowed her to begin thinking for herself once again.

Voldemort laughed, but it was hollow. "_It seems that we have a stalemate, Harry. You cannot break my spell over Nagini, and I cannot take the chance of ever sending her out do tasks for me._"

"This isn't the end, Tom." Harry was frustrated that he was not able to bring Nagini to him, but he had always considered it a long shot. He broke the connection with Voldemort. He turned and looked at the others. They all looked tired, the magic that they had spent was telling. Shacklebolt brought out a huge bar of chocolate for them to break pieces from, while Harry checked the artifacts. They were all inert, no longer containing the parts of Voldemort's soul.

"What were those spells that you were casting?" Shacklebolt asked Harry as he handed him a chunk of chocolate.

"The one that Dudley cast translates to 'Love of Family', Ron and Hermione cast 'Love of Friends'," Harry said.

"And Ginny?" Harry and Ginny both blushed.

"Love of a Mate".

Shacklebolt grinned. "Does this mean that you two are officially an item?"

Ginny stepped forward. "I guess that you could say that. Before we came here, McGonagall brought the Minister to Hogwarts and performed the binding on us. We are, in the eyes of Wizarding law, married, thus mates."

Ron and Hermione's jaws dropped. "Mum's gonna go spare! Do you have any idea how long she has been planning your wedding? And now you get married even before Bill and Fleur have their wedding? I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when she finds out!"

"I think that she knows by now. Minerva said that she would tell her while we were gone." The group arrived at the main lobby just in time to see the Aurors hustling off two bound Death Eaters. There were scorch marks from a battle evident on the walls and furnishings.

"What happened?" asked Ron.

"They came in a few minutes ago. We were ready for them, so no one on our side was hurt. The others got away, but we did get these two." The Auror who spoke was young, probably recently out of his advanced training. They look to be pretty young, probably seventh year Hogwarts students. They will get their day in court, if they weren't in the group already convicted in abstentia. They may have already earned their one way ticket through the Veil though."

Harry shook his head sadly. He knew the reasons for the death sentences, but wished that the young Death Eaters could be rehabilitated. The Ministry however, was determined to make an example of the Death Eaters to avoid a repeat of the last time. Just having the Dark Mark was considered prima fasciae evidence, and could earn the bearer a death sentence.

Harry took Ginny's arm. "Well, Mrs. Potter, do you think that it is about time to head back home and face the music from your mum?"

"Certainly, Mr. Potter. Although we will probably wish that Voldemort had dealt with us instead. We would be heroes then. Right now we are just in trouble."

"**_Harry James Potter!_** How dare you show your face after eloping with my daughter! And you, Ginevra Weasley! If you think that this will stand, you have another thought coming! I did not agree to this, neither did your father!"

"Uh, Molly dear…. " Until this, Arthur had been willing to let Molly rant. "Actually, I did give permission…"

"**HOW DARE YOU!** And you didn't think to even ask my opinion! I certainly hope that you like the couch in the Gryffindor common room, because that is where you are going to be sleeping tonight!" Molly was in fine form and just getting started. She turned to Ginny. "And you, young lady, will be spending your nights in my room! I don't care what the Ministry says, you are not married until I say you're married! You don't even have a ring!"

"Mum… " Ginny held out her hand. On her ring finger was an antique ring. "It was Harry's mum's. And her mum before her.. It has been passed down for over 300 years. I love him, he loves me, and he is my husband. **Period!**" 

Molly stood in shock. Ginny had her dander up now and was just as formidable as her mother. Harry had the idea that he was watching the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Molly reached out and grabbed Ginny into a hug. She was crying.

"Don't worry mum. We'll have the big wedding that you want. And until then, we will wait to share the things that married couples share." She took the ring from her finger and handed it to Molly. "Please hold onto this for me until that day. Harry, I think that it is time to do this properly."

Harry gulped and turned toward Arthur. "Mr. Weasley,…"

Arthur smiled. "Harry, you already asked me, and I agreed."

"Oh, yeah… Harry reached in his pocket and took out another ring box. When he opened it, there was a matching engagement ring. He turned it toward Ginny, got down on one knee. "Ginny Weasley, you have captured my heart. I love you as much as life itself and I cannot see myself living without you. Ginny, will you marry me?"

"Well, I don't know…this is kind of sudden…" Ginny looked at Harry's face, then broke out in a grin. "Of course I will! I have loved you as long as I can remember. When I dated Dean, I saw you. No one could ever measure up to you, Harry. I love you with my entire being, and want to spend the rest of my life with you." She held out her finger and Harry slipped the ring on it.

Molly squealed. "I have a wedding to plan!" She started for the stairs and Arthur got up to follow. "Just where do you think that you are going? You are still in the doghouse, mister. Or on the couch, as the case may be." Arthur gave Molly a hang-dog look. "Oh, well…come on. I never could stay mad at you." Arthur followed Molly as the rest of the room broke out in laughter.

A/N: It was about time to have some serious fluff here... but then again, I'm never serious... that is why you got this instead:)


	19. Life and Death

**Chapter 19**

**Life and Death **

_Godric's Hollow  
The Sweat Lodge  
One week later_

Harry and Lupin were sitting cross-legged in the Lodge with the ceremonial fire burning. The spirits of James, Lily and Sirius were sitting in ethereal chairs chatting with them.

_"Still haven't changed the décor, son? I was hoping that you could make it look like something other than a teepee",_ James said. _"And I see that you have Moony down to a loincloth also."_

"Loincloth, fur, what's the difference?" Lupin asked. "Once you've seen someone in werewolf form, there's not much left to the imagination" With that, the other Marauders hooted with laughter.

_"So, Harry, Have you thought of trying to change this place to make it a bit more….. British?" _Lily asked.

"I actually have, Mom." Harry replied. "I am just so afraid of messing up the magic and losing contact with you guys again. We have years to catch up on. And I need advice."

_"Just like a teenager. You never hear from them unless they need something."_ This from James. _"I remember that time well….. _" The spirits and Lupin laughed. _"So, son, what advice from our extensive store of knowledge can we give you?"_

Lily poked an elbow into James. _"And what advice do you feel qualified to give… Prongs?"_

_"As I was saying, Harry"_, said James. _"What advice can your mom give you?" _He muttered in a lower voice, _"Sometimes that whole 'Brightest Witch of Her Age' bit can get a little bit tiring."_ This earned him another elbow from Lily and a new round of laughter from the others.

Harry knew how James felt. After having spoken several times with Lily, she tended to remind him of Hermione. She had been the one to tell him of the wedding ring set in the Potter Family vault. She had also given him a lot of good, practical advice on how to approach and treat Ginny. In matters of the heart, Lily was tops. James, on the other hand, was somewhat of a bumbler with interpersonal relationships. Harry guess that passing to the other side of life didn't change certain things.

"It's like this; I believe that I am ready to take on Riddle. I am, however, unable to get to Nagini to remove the shard of soul he put in her. I don't want to go through all of this just to have him pop back up in a couple of years, or even weeks. I have to break the back of his organisation now. I also need to meet him on my ground. Him and all of his Death Eaters."

_"Alright. First of all, Voldemort doesn't play fair. But I guess that you know that well by now. He will have Vampires, werewolves, and giants with him if any way possible. You can get rid of 2 of those threats just by meeting him in daylight during the new phase of the moon, when it is pretty much just a sliver. And as far as the 'where', how about right here?"_

"Why here?" Harry exclaimed. "I would like to consider this place as sacred ground."

Sirius joined in. _"Its perfect, Harry. This is the place of his first and greatest defeat. Your hard part will be getting him to bring Nagini with him. Have you tried the thing with the Room of Requirement? That was bloody brilliant. I never would have thought that your cousin had it in him."_

"We did try it, but he has her well protected from things like that. I can talk with her, but not much else. He only lets her free to eat, then just the first foot or so of her body. I am really starting to feel sorry for her. I hate to see any creature abused like that. The good news is that I have talked to her without Voldemort knowing. As long as I don't try to connect with him specifically, he doesn't know, or at least I don't think he knows."

Lily got excited. _"That's the way that you can get him and free her at the same time. This is what you need to do……"_

_Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft_

"Nagini," Harry hissed in Parseltongue. His mind reached out across space to locate the captive snake. "Can you hear me?"

_"Harry Potter," _the snake hissed back, _"Pleassse freee meee!"_

"I'm working on that now, Nagini." Harry thought back. "Has anything changed?"

_"Yesss. The Evil One put meee in a glassss tank. Heee hasss three two-legsss watching meee allways now."_

"Do you know why he did that?" This made Harry curious.

_"Yesss, I wanted to die before continuing to beee hissss ssslave." _Nagini sent a satisfied feeling to Harry. _"I tried to bite him. I misssed." Harry could feel the serpent's disappointment. _

"Good try, though. Nagini, can you tell me what your surroundings are?" 

_"Yesss. I am in the lair of the Evil One. Heee isss not here now."_

"Can you tell me anything about the house?"

_"It isss the houssse of hisss sssire. I am in the big room. I want to essscape, but the glassss holdsss meee in."_

"Do you know where Voldemort is?" asked Harry.

_"Theee Evil One sssaid heee was going to get sssomething elssse to put the sssoul in. It will kill meee, but death isss better than thissss."_

"Oh, no! Nagini, I need to get some help." Harry jumped up and ran into the Great Hall. "Everybody! I need help!"

Moony came running up. "What's the problem?"

"I need Tonks to warn the Ministry that Voldemort may be coming to get an artifact to transfer the Nagini portion into. Everyone else needs to get ready to go now!" Dudley ran up to get his dueling wand, while Ginny ran out of the Hall to fetch Hermione from the Library. "This will be a dress rehearsal for the big one, minus Voldemort. No witnesses."

Ron ran off to get the supplies, and within a couple of minutes, the whole team was gathered in front of McGonagall's office. Ron handed everyone a one-litre squirt bottle and some heavy duty plastic flex cuffs. These were created for muggle policemen as a one-use, disposable set of handcuffs. They rushed into the office and, each grabbing some Floo powder, gave their destination and disappeared.

_12 Grimmauld Place._

One at a time, the group came through the fireplace. This time, Dudley came through last in order to allow the others to make it through without a tangle. As they got themselves organised, Moody asked, "Just where are we going?"

This drew Harry up short. "I'm not sure, actually. Nagini says that she is in Voldemort's house that was also his father's. I was hoping that you knew the location."

"Actually, I do. It is in Little Hangleton. The old Riddle Manor. I thought that it had been destroyed though." What we can do is go through the Floo network to the old Gaunt home."

"That old shack is still on the network?"

"Yes, and as a matter of fact, it has been used by the Aurors to keep an eye on the area. Over the past couple of years, there has been occasional Death Eater activity there. They have never actually seen anything happening around the Manor, and every time the Aurors get into the area, the Death Eaters disappear."

"I see. So is everyone ready to go?"

There were nods of assent, but then Moony stopped them before they Floo'ed out. "Harry, you need to stay here. We need to save you for Voldemort, and there are plenty of people on this team. It's going to be a quick smash and grab with no witnesses. If Voldemort senses you around his house though, it could blow the whole thing"

"But what if Voldemort shows up? I'll need to be there."

"If Riddle shows up, then we'll all Appirate out. If they show up in force, the mission is a dud anyway"

"But Ginny can't Apparate. She would have to be protected."

"Hmm, you're right. Ginny, you'll have to stay here with Harry. And Harry will have to talk to Nagini so that she won't attack us."

Ginny clenched her fists in frustration, but Harry headed off the tantrum. "Ginny, I need you here. You have a big part in helping to remove the shard of soul from Nagini. There will be enough people there, Nagini says that there are only 3 Death Eaters there. I don't like the fact that I'm not going, but this is the best way." Harry looked at the group. "Are you going to be using a portkey if everything goes alright?

"Yes," said Moody. "We'll come back in two groups."

"Okay, you had better get going then."

Harry watched most of the operation through the eyes of Nagini. He had contacted the snake to tell her that she was being rescued. The whole operation went off just like clockwork, and less than 30 minutes from the time the team floo'ed out, they returned by portkey. The two prisoners had been rendered unconscious, bound with flex cuffs, then the flex cuffs were made into portkeys. As an added insult to Riddle, they had torched his house on the way out. The lair was now a smoking ruin, the same way that Voldemort had left Harry's parent's home in Godric's Hollow.

Harry had the tank with Nagini taken into the Black Family library at Order Headquarters. They had a quick discussion on the best way to go about the soul removal without harming Nagini. Harry translated the discussion into Parseltongue for the snake.

_"Jussst do your besssst, friend. If I die, I will ssstill beeee freee of the Evil One. If you cannot do it without killing meeee, I forgive you."_

When Harry translated this for the others, they looked at Nagini with new respect. Hermione summed up the feelings of the group. "Nagini is very noble. She has more humanity than Voldemort and his entire crowd put together. Harry, we have to do our best on this one."

Opening the tank and allowing Nagini to comfortably coil up on a chest, Harry, Ginny, Dudley, Ron and Hermione gathered around her while drawing their wands.

"DILIGO PROSAPIA!" Dudley cast the Love of Family charm

"DILIGO AMICITIA!" Ron and Hermione cast the Love of Friends charm

"DILIGO MATERIA!" Ginny cast the Love of Mate charm.

They held their charms steady on Nagini while Harry prepared to cast the first of two spells. The first one would separate the souls of Nagini and Voldemort, then the second would remove the invading soul, leaving Nagini with just her soul.

_"Feeeelsss niccccee"_ The snake said to Harry. He smiled and cast the first spell.

"TRIBUO ANIMUS!" Harry could feel Voldemort's soul struggling to stay attached to the essence of Nagini. He also saw the pain in her eyes.

_"Keeeep going!"_ the snake hissed. _"I feel him losssing hisss grip!"_

Harry felt the souls tear, then quickly cast the second spell before Voldemort's soul could get a new foothold.

"AUFERO PERVASOR!" The partial soul of Voldemort came slowly out of Nagini, where it was hit by the other three charms. It was quickly destroyed by the combined love of the quartet. 

_"I'M FREEEEEE!"_ Nagini hissed her joy at the removal of Voldemort's soul piece.. _"I will ssserve you assss long assss you will have me. You will beee my massster!"_

"Nagini, I don't need a servant," Harry said in Parseltongue. "I would be honored to be your friend though." Harry noticed that he actually had to speak Parseltongue now, the connection that allowed him to psychically communicate with Nagini was gone. The good news is that Voldemort could also no longer invade Nagini's mind and control her.

"Harry," Ron asked, "Does Riddle know that you have destroyed the last Horcrux? He was in a lot of pain the last time."

"I'm not sure, but I don't believe so. He will be coming back to a burned down house, and Nagini and the Death Eaters missing. He may suspect, but he won't know. And speaking of the Death Eaters, I wonder what Mad-Eye and Moony have done with them."

"Did I hear someone saying my name?" Lupin came in the room.

"I was just wondering aloud what happened to the prisoners." Harry said.

"Moody floo-talked to the Ministry to see if the coast was clear, and found out it was. We took them through the Floo to the Ministry and turned them over to the Aurors." He looked at his watch. "They were on the list of the Death Eaters already convicted, so they ought to be going through the Veil right about…..now."

"Actually, about 5 minutes ago," Mad-Eye Moody stepped in the room. "I stayed to make sure that they didn't get rescued. They were still unconscious when the Minister read the death warrant and the Aurors shoved them through. Hell of a way to wake up, but at least they won't be around to tell Voldemort what happened."

"So the Death Eaters never attacked the Ministry?" Harry had a bad feeling about this.

"No," Moody looked grim. "Dudley, I'm sorry. They came into Little Whinging. They killed Mrs. Figg first, then went to your house. They killed your parents, then took some trophy from the front room. It was the only thing missing. I was hoping to tell you privately, but son, you have a good group of people here to support you."

"How were they able to get past the protection?" Dudley had tears on his face. He was trying to be brave and hold it in, but it wasn't working.

"The protection has been gone for months. It only lasted until Harry's 17th birthday, and the two of you were in Texas then. We offered to put new protection in, but your father refused it and demanded that we leave."

"Did they suffer much?"

"I would like to tell you no, but I have to be honest. They were tortured for quite a while. That is why we were able to get in and out of Voldemort's house before he came back." 

Harry put his arm around Dudley and his friends followed suit. "Harry, promise me that you will kill that bastard. I know that my folks treated you badly, and my dad absolutely hated you, but do it for me, if not them."

Harry looked Dudley in the eye. "I will. For them and every other innocent victim of Riddle's war. Dudley, I know that they didn't ask for the trouble, but they received it anyway. All they wanted was to pretend that our world didn't exist. No one would let them have even that illusion."

Ron spoke up. "Harry, what are you going to do with Nagini?"

"I don't know. Nagini, would you like to go out in the back and roam the garden? I'm sure that there will be good hunting there."

Nagini hissed her agreement, so Harry told her to follow Lupin to the back entrance, then the rest of the group grabbed some Floo powder and headed back to Hogwarts.

_A/N: We are getting close to the end now. I purposely did not detail the happenings in Riddle Manor, it would have spoiled the climax chapter. I have given you hints throughout though. :)_


	20. Odds and Ends

_Disclaimer: Yada, yada, yada. JKR is the owner, I just hotwired the whole thing for a joyride._

**Chapter 20**

**Odds and Ends**

_Godric's Hollow  
The Sweat Lodge  
The Next Day_

Harry sat in the sweat lodge across the fire from Sirius. He was physically exhausted and looking for some advice. He had hoped to have Sirius act as a go-between with Dumbledore, but in this he was disappointed. Not only was Dumbledore not in the same plane as Sirius, but Snape had been found not guilty by the Judges of the Spirit World and the Maker. The Maker had declared that the killing curse could not have killed Dumbledore since there was not the required hatred behind the spell. Still, no one knew what had happened to Albus Dumbledore.

_"You cannot believe how insufferable Snivelus has become, not that he wasn't already."_ Sirius stated. _"I have not heard the phrase, 'I told you so' said in so many different ways. And the worst part is that he doesn't even look the same. He has a mental image of himself as some sort of normal person, and that is what shows through. He also wears his robes with short sleeves so that his forearms show. That is because the Dark Mark is gone. This is Paradise and all, but having him here almost makes me want to come back." _

Harry laughed. "To be honest with you, Snape is the last person that I would have expected to end up there. But all of that still does not explain what happened to Dumbledore."

_"Has anyone looked in the tomb?"_ Sirius asked. _"I would be interested about whether he is even still in there."_

"Don't think that I haven't considered it. The problem is though is that the tomb is impregnable. It was really built to last. There is some really heavy duty magic involved in the construction."

_"So, have you decided when you are going to challenge Voldemort?"_

"I have been letting him stew in his own juices for a while. He went spare when he found Nagini gone and the Riddle Manor burned to the ground. He ought to be just about ready to try to put me away by now. Everyone says they're ready, we've trained until we can go through it in our sleep."

_"If I could make a suggestion…. Halloween is in three days. What better time for justice to be delivered than on the day that he killed your parents?" _

"You know, that may not be a bad idea. The only thing that I'm worried about is the giants. I don't know where they are right now. A couple of weeks ago they were in Scotland, but they've had enough time to be just about anywhere by now. Hagrid found traces of them in the Forbidden Forest, and the centaurs have been keeping a loose watch on then, but I haven't heard anything in a few days." Harry explained. "That is why I need Dumbledore. He would probably know something that would give us an edge."

The two talked for a short while longer, then Sirius returned to the Spirit World and Harry went out to join his guards.

**HARRY POTTER CHALLENGES RIDDLE!  
Time to Lay Down on the Ashheap of History says Boy-Who-Lived**

_Exclusive to the Daily Prophet  
Merle Ashforth, Staff Writer_

_In an exclusive interview, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, has declared that it is time that the death sentence levied against Tom Riddle, the self styled Lord Voldemort, be carried out._

"Since the Ministry of Magic has placed an open warrant on the head of Riddle and his Death Eaters, I have decided to step forward and collect. Riddle has been hiding in fear of the good people of Britain. This is no surprise since he is a coward and a bully. He has been the leader of a criminal gang who does his bidding since he doesn't have the courage to fight against anyone but small children and their mothers."

When this reporter asked why Harry Potter was coming forward at this time to make the challenge, Mr. Potter replied, "My whole life has been spent either fighting Riddle or preparing to fight him. I whipped him when I was but a one year old child, I beat him as a first and second year student. He tried and failed to kill me in the Triwizard Tournament. He and his thugs have killed or injured most of the people whom I care for. It is far past time that he and his gang lay down and die on the ash heap of history and failure."

"Riddle, although he tries to play on Pureblood sympathies, is himself a mongrel. He had to resort to hiding in the ruined home of his muggle father, a man who was seduced by a love potion in order to create the bastard that we call Voldemort. It is only fitting that another half-blood be the one to erase this stain upon the Wizarding world. He will be receiving my formal challenge tomorrow. If he does not answer, the entire Wizarding world will see what a coward and complete waste of genetic material he really is."

So there you have it, readers. One way or another, there will be a final showdown between He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Mentioned and the Once-Boy-Now-Man-Who-Lived. Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort was not available for comment.

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
Room of Requirement  
October 30_

Harry had been busy since his interview with the _Daily Prophet_. He had gone over the plan once again with all of the other team members. They were encouraged by the fact that Hagrid had not only received reports from the centaurs that the giants were in the Forbidden Forest, but had also seen some of them. This would put them out of the way when the showdown came at Godric's Hollow. It was now time to put the final preparation in place. With Lupin by his side, he sent out his thoughts across time and space.

"Hey there Tall, Dark and Ugly.. I know you can hear me… It's time for you to die…"

_"Where are you, Potter?"_ Voldemort hissed.

"Oh, just relaxing with my new pet snake. She's a lot more relaxed now that you're out of the picture. I think that I'll keep her around for quite a while. Anyway, Tom, how do you like the remodeling job on your house? I put a lot of thought into it. And did you happen to see the _Daily Prophet_ today?"

_"You little bastard! Before I'm finished with you, you will be begging me to kill you! You and your friends. I killed off your last living relatives, it's time to finish you also."_

"Ah… At least we're on the same page. We have been fighting since I was a baby and I'm getting pretty tired of it. You can't get to me anymore, and as you pointed out, I have no more family to protect. You've also lost everything, lost your chance at immortality, you have nothing left to lose but your life. As far as my friends, I tried to keep them out of this, but it is their decision to fight. They're doing it for their own reasons and I have nothing to offer them but my admiration. One way or another, we need to end this now."

_"Agreed. Potter, you could have had it all. I would have made you my closest follower. I offered it to your father, but the fool rejected me. Idiocy must run in your family. I had to kill him, and you will meet the same fate. I will rule the world while you are decomposing in a forgotten grave. So come to me now and we will settle this."_

"Actually, Tom, you and your gang can come to me. I'm going to have a nice meal and a good rest, and I suggest that you do the same. After all, you should be well rested for your execution. I'll contact you in the morning with the location." Harry sent Voldemort a picture of the exorcism of Nagini, then broke contact.

Leaving the Room of Requirement, Harry and Lupin went down to the Great Hall to meet with the others. Since there were no students at Hogwarts, the Hall did not have all of the House tables set up, but rather one large, 5 sided table set in the middle. Taking their places on one side, Harry and Lupin joined the other human inhabitants of Hogwarts. Harry poured a large pumpkin juice and took a roast beef sandwich from an eager house-elf.

"It's all set. We'll go ahead to Grimmauld Place when we finish here. Minerva, have you prepared the castle?"

"As well as possible. The house-elves refused to leave, even though I had plenty of places for them to stay until it's over. I am assured that the castle can hold off any assault though. What about you? Do you think that V-Voldemort will be able to access your memories to get details of the plan?"

"The last time he tried, he got quite a shock. What I am doing is running a continuous loop of 'special' memories just for him. He can watch himself being destroyed when I was one, he can also watch every time that he has been handed a defeat. It doesn't take much of that before he takes off. Now I have gotten to the point that it takes no effort to hold that shield. He won't be getting anything from my mind."

"Very well. I do have one bit of good news that I've been waiting to share until everyone was here. Hagrid, will please come here?" Hagrid got up and joined McGonagall. "Hagrid, everyone here knows that a great injustice was done to you when Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets and blamed you. I have petitioned the Ministry along with Mr. Potter and I just received the answer back today. They have overturned their original decision and have not only cleared your record, they have also reinstated your rights as a wizard. I contacted Olivander's wand shop with the specifications of your original wand and purchased a replacement." McGonagall handed Hagrid a long, thin box with a bright red ribbon tied around it. "Welcome back, _Professor Hagrid!_"

Hagrid opened the box and pulled out the wand. He waved it and lights and flowers spewed from the end. "I don't know what teh say…" He broke down in tears. Everyone crowded around him, slapping him on the back and congratulating him.

After having a celebratory toast, McGonagall created a portkey for them to travel to Grimmauld Place. With the assault group gathered around, they touched the serving platter and disappeared, leaving only McGonagall and Hagrid behind in the castle.

"Professor, I'm going to go out and check the grounds. If there is a problem I'll let yeh know." With that, Hagrid got up. He didn't immediately leave however. He grabbed Minerva McGonagall by the waist, swung her around and gave a whoop of pure joy, sounding more like the young wizard he once was. Releasing her, he very seriously went to one knee and looked her in the eye. "Minerva, when Dumbledore died, I thought that I would die of a broken heart. Don't get me wrong, I still miss him terrible. But I know that Hogwarts is in the hands of a witch who is every bit as great as Dumbledore was. Thank you for giving me back my life."

Minerva blushed. "Hagrid, it was a pleasure. I just wish that it had not taken so long. And Hagrid…"

"Yes?"

With a twinkle in her eye reminiscent of Dumbledore, she said, "Let's not have any of that when the students get back." With that, Minerva McGonagall leaned forward and planted a kiss on Hagrid's forehead.


	21. Showdown at Godric's Hollow

**Chapter 21**

**Showdown at Godric's Hollow**

_Godric's Hollow_

_The following morning_

Harry and his friends had spent several hours in preparation at the sweat lodge. Recognising that no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, they also went over several options in case of the plan falling apart. The combat team was ready, the only things that could trip them up would be if either Voldemort didn't show or the giants did. Harry was pretty sure that Voldemort would show, it would mean a total loss of influence if he did not. As far as the giants went, unless Voldemort had figured a way to transport them from Scotland, they should be safe.

As the team began to leave the inside of the lodge in order to deploy, Harry signaled to Dudley to stay behind. "Cousin, are you ready?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose. I was thinking to myself last night, asking what in the bloody hell I had gotten myself into now, when it hit me that if I wasn't here, I would probably be dead now… just like Mum and Dad. Whatever happens, I plan to get a chunk of justice for them."

"Dudley, if this goes off right, you will be responsible for getting them all." Harry gave Dudley's arm a squeeze. "Time to get set up." With that, Dudley left while Harry got ready to contact Voldemort. Taking a last look around as he sat down in a cross-legged position, he sighed. In a short while, this place would be nothing more than an oddly shaped, crudely built hut.

Fixing his mind onto Voldemort, Harry reached out for his opposite. Reaching into Voldemort, Harry could feel his anticipation as he waited. He took this time to check out what Riddle was doing and seeing. In front of him was every one of Voldemort's Death Eaters. This was exactly what Harry wanted to see. He tried to get some sort of clue as to Voldemort's location, but no such luck.

"Tommy… where are you?" Harry broke in on Voldemort's thoughts.

"_I'm right here going over how I'm going to kill you and your friends. _Voldemort sent a few images back at Harry, but by now he was immune to it. The training over the past few months had bolstered his confidence greatly.

"Oh, wow. I'm just quaking in my boots over a has-been wannabe. Ready to put your wand where your mouth is?"

"_That's why I'm here. Where are you, you arrogant child?"_

"I'm at the first place that I ever whipped your arse, Godric's Hollow. You ready for a rematch? Against the only person who ever beat you? It's just me and my friends. The Aurors aren't even here. They are just waiting to receive the bodies after the dust settles."

"_Fitting. It will make it very convenient for them to put your body next to your parents. I believe that I will build my new manor on the very ground where your parent's house stood._

"If you want it, you have to win it. I do have one non-combatant here. She is a reporter from the Prophet. She will be reporting on the outcome. However, if you aren't here in the next ten minutes, she will be reporting to the entire Wizarding world that you have ducked out, afraid to face me. You will have no one left." Harry was lying about the reporter, but he decided to toss it in to make sure that Voldemort would not wait until nightfall to bring in Vampires to aid him. This was a human/sorcerer intramural event, and Harry wanted no interference.

"_Very well, I will let her live. She can interview me as I become the leader of the Wizarding world. Ten minutes_. Voldemort sounded all too confident. Harry wondered what he had up his sleeve. He did not immediately break the contact, but rather withdrew from the forefront of Voldemort's mind so that he wouldn't be detected. He saw Voldemort instruct a Death Eater whom he did not recognize to go to the giants and hurry them along. The Death Eater appirated out, but did not return. Voldemort waited a few minutes, cursed, then instructed the remaining Death Eaters on their destination.

**POP****POP**** POP**** POP** The Death Eaters and Voldemort appeared in the meadow outside of the sweat lodge. Harry's team, sans Dudley, were behind various points of protection. They had to make sure that all of the enemy was in place. Suddenly from the upper branches of a tree came a shout.

"**_AUFERO VENEFICUS!!!"_** This was called out by Dudley from under Harry's invisibility cloak. Immediately Harry felt the loss of _something_.. He could tell from the expressions on the faces of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange that the spell was successful. The rest of his team came out from behind their hiding places holding one litre squirt bottles. Neville led the charge. He ran up to Bellatrix as she desperately attempted to cast a spell in what was now a null-magic area. Neville held out the squirt bottle and sprayed Bellatrix directly in the eyes.

The effect was drastic. As the pure habenero pepper juice hit her eyes, blinding her, she screamed in pain. From inside his robes, Neville pulled a wooden billy club and, with all his might, hit Bellatrix right in the teeth while yelling, "YOU BITCH! This is for my parents!" Two more hits from the billy left Bella unconscious on the ground. Neville quickly stripped her of her wands, both the main one and her back up, then using the flex cuffs, trussed her up so that she could not move if she did come to. He then went after another Death Eater.

All around, the same situation was happening with the other team members. Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were actively taking the battle to the enemy. Dudley was still in the tree holding the spell that robbed the power from the battle zone. Harry tried listening for the telltale crack of trees falling that would herald the arrival of the giants, but never heard anything. Death Eaters, seeing that they were losing a battle that they did not know how to fight, tried to get away, but any magic that they attempted in order to leave also did not work. The same for portkeys and brooms. They were now no different from muggles. The dead zone was also too large to run out of to escape. They were faced with the fact that all they had as weapons were oddly shaped sticks and their fists. One squirt from the spray bottle of pepper juice in the eyes would immobilize them, then all the defender had to do was billy club them and truss them up.

In this vein, Harry walked boldly up to Voldemort, hands empty. Voldemort sneered. "What, no bottle of whatever potion the others are using? Why the special treatment?"

"I want you to see it all coming, Tom. I want to make sure that you feel everything." With that, Harry brought up his fists and smashed Voldemort in the face. "That one is for my Dad. Another punch. "And my Mum". As Harry moved in, hard fists smashing in with 16 years of anger and months of training by Dudley in the art of boxing, he drove Voldemort back while saying the names of everyone who he knew to be dead at Voldemort's hand.

As Voldemort went down on one knee, he dropped his wand and, reaching in his robes, pulled out a dagger. He lunged forward and Harry jumped back out of the way. Harry was sure that the dagger would be poisoned, and he could not afford even a scratch.

Voldemort staggered to his feet, sneering. "Now you will die, boy. Did you really think that you could kill me by brawling with your fists? I'll be eating your heart!"

"I don't think so, Tom." With that, Harry reached back between his shoulder blades and drew his katana sword from its sheath. Bringing it in front of him, he slashed down and severed Voldemort's hand holding the dagger. As Voldemort screamed and grabbed his arm to stop the blood flow, Harry spun around and sliced at the back of Voldemort's knees. Voldemort fell face down on the ground. Harry then brought up his sword over his head.

"Tom Riddle, for crimes against humanity, multiple murders of both wizards and muggles, you have been tried by the Wizengamot and sentenced to death. By authorization by the Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic, I hereby pronounce and carry out that sentence." With that, Harry swung the sword downward towards Voldemort's exposed neck. The razor sharp sword bit into the flesh and cleanly severed the head, digging into the ground a good 2 inches. He then kicked the head away from the body.

Smoke arose from Voldemort's body and it began to decompose right in front of Harry's eyes. He stood, fascinated, as the flesh fell off the bones and a putrid odor arose. Tearing his eyes away, he saw that his combat team had disabled all of the opposition. The Death Eaters were tied up with the flex cuffs and all of their wands had been collected and broken.

"_Dirt Eaters! Here is your Master!"_ Harry shouted. He grabbed the hood of Voldemort's robe and pulled the stinking corpse into a sitting position. He saw Bellatrix's eyes open in shock. Ginny was standing next to Bella, and as Lestrange began to scream, she stuck Bella in the buttocks with a hypodermic needle. A few seconds later, Bella's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed, unconscious once again. This procedure was repeated with each of the remaining Death Eaters. When the last one had dropped to the ground, unconscious, Dudley reversed the magic nullification spell.

**_RESTITUO PONDERA!!_**

With that, the magic flooded back into the area. Dudley, exhausted from holding the spell for so long, fell from his branch in the tree and collapsed on the ground. Ginny hurried over to him with a restorative potion. A few seconds later and he looked much better. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lupin and Neville were going around the prisoners and turning their flexcuffs into portkeys that would transport them directly to the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry. They purposely saved Bella and Lucius until last. As they turned the last prisoner's cuffs into portkeys, Neville grabbed hold of Bella's cuffs while Lupin did the same with Lucius' cuffs. The four promptly disappeared.

Harry walked over to Voldemort's body, looked around, then picked up Riddle's wand. He immediately felt the power travel through, no wonder since it was identical to his own. He tucked it into his pocket, then turned Voldemort's robe into a portkey, and, taking hold of the cowl in one hand and the head in the other, took the body to the Ministry.

_Ministry of Magic_

_Department of Mysteries_

Harry arrived at the Department of Mysteries just in time to see a hard faced Neville read the death sentence to a still groggy Bellatrix Lestrange and personally push her through the veil. Lucius had taken his journey into eternity a few scant seconds previously. All together there had been 29 Death Eaters, all hard core survivors, whose lives had been ended that day with their death sentences carried out. That left only the one Death Eater who Harry had seen through Voldemort's eyes going after the giants. Harry had no idea who it was, but figured that someday the Death Eater's Dark Mark would give him away. He still had no idea of what happened to Draco and Narcissa Malfoy, Snape had never told Sirius. They still were not on speaking terms.

Harry pulled the body of Voldemort up to the veil to the accompaniment of gagging and retching from the assorted Aurors who were there to assist the team with prisoner disposition. He first threw Voldemort's head through the veil, then pulling Voldemort's wand out of his pocket, tucked it into Voldemort's robe pocket and pushed the body through. There was a flash of light and a scream was heard.

"Kind of thought something like that would happen. I just wanted to make sure that he was completely gone with no link back to this world. I believe that he channeled a horcrux into his wand, just in case he lost. He probably figured that since our wands were identical, that I would keep the wand and he would have a gateway back. He got very predictable at the end. Is there someplace I can wash my hands?"

As one of the Aurors pointed him to the facilities, Harry's knees began to shake. It was over. He still had his friends and Ginny. Life could finally begin.

_A/N: And that's it, folks! There will be one more chapter, then a couple of associated stories in my little alternate universe. I hope that you have been enjoying it so far…please R&R!_


	22. Time to Start Living

_Disclaimer: The Potterverse still belongs to JKR and her lackeys and minions in the corporate world. I just snuck in under the fence to pee in the pool.._

A/N: Thanks for following this story through to the (not so) bitter end. There are side stories that go with it, just click on my profile and check them out. Happy reading!

**Chapter 22**

**Time to Start Living**

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Six Months Later_

The wedding was a private, intimate affair. At least it was supposed to be, however when the saviors of the Wizarding world were to be married, plans could rapidly change. Harry and Ginny originally intended to have the actual wedding at the newly remodeled sweat lodge in Godric's Hollow so that Harry's parents and Sirius could be in attendance. The 'must invite' guest list had quickly grown to over 500 people, which necessitated a few compromises. Harry and Ginny had gone through the second ceremony at the lodge, with only the parents, Ron, Hermione, Dudley, and Sirius in attendance, but it had not been publicized. That had happened the previous evening, with Professor McGonagall performing the ritual.

The bride was beautiful (of course!), the groom handsome, and the groom's mother properly impressed with the new look of the sweat lodge. After several consultations with Pablo, the two had come to the conclusion that it was the magic, not the decorations, that gave the lodge the power to summon the departed. The lodge was now attached to the new cottage which Harry built, and appeared to be a parlour. The cottage was meant to be Harry and Ginny's hideaway, a place they could go to get away from the world.

Ginny had not worn her formal wedding robes, Mrs. Weasley insisted that Harry not see Ginny in them until the wedding at Hogwarts. Instead, she had a different, slightly more subtle set made for the private ceremony. When Harry saw her in that set of robes, he wondered how much more impressive the formal ones could be. Harry on the other hand, would be wearing the same robes for both ceremonies. That was one of the great things about being a guy, wedding plans sort of take care of themselves. Just appear where your intended wants you, on time, and reasonably sober and you are good to go.

That was Harry's thought as he was helping Ron tie his bow tie. Dudley had no problem with his, he had been tying them for years. Harry and Ron, to the encouragement of Dudley, were struggling, accompanied by hoots of laughter from Lupin and the Weasley twins.

"Harry," said George, "You ought to be really familiar with all of this…"

"Especially since you do it so often," added Fred

"Third time…" George put in.

"Is supposed to be the charm", said Fred, then they both cracked up.

"Easy for you to say, "said Harry. "How many people do you know who go through 3 wedding ceremonies in 7 months and have never slept with their wife?"

"Works for me," said Ron. "She is our little sister, after all. As far as we're concerned, she could stay untouched forever. We might wonder a bit about you, but look at the respect that you would gain from us."

"What? And deny Molly a bunch of grandchildren? I figure that she will be asking when the baby is due about the time we get back from the honeymoon. Not that it will be such a chore to make her happy after all…."

"Keep talking like that mate, and we will set those fireworks off a bit early," said Fred

"Yeah, right inside your robes," added George.

"Why aren't you guys piling on Ron? I mean, he is marrying Hermione today. I don't think that he will be exactly celibate tonight."

Bill stuck his head in the door just in time to hear the last exchange. "That is because Hermione is not our little sister, and we just think that she is getting a really good deal marrying Ron. And he is one lucky puppy marrying her. You, on the other hand, are a cad who is about to despoil our sister. Now, if the clowning around is over, it is time to meet your fates."

A few minutes later, with Harry and Ron standing at the front, the Wedding March began playing. This was a concession to the Grangers, who wanted something traditional in Hermione's wedding. The wedding was also well attended by relatives of Hermione who could be trusted with the secret that there was a whole different world co-existing with their own. Due to the recent cooperation between the magical and muggle governments, the Prime Minister was there, in the same group as the Minister of Magic. The two couples had, in fact, saved both worlds.

As the brides came down the aisle, accompanied by their fathers, Ron and Harry gaped, open mouthed. The girl's outfits were a cross between formal robes and muggle wedding dresses, lots of lace, silk, and hand sewn pearls. These had been Madam Malkin's crowning achievement. Harry was sure that he had never seen anything more beautiful than his bride. He was sure that Ron had the same thought about Hermione.

The actual ceremony was short and sweet. The duties were shared by a Unitarian minister friend of the Grangers and Minerva McGonagall. Vows were given, rings exchanged, and the bonding spell performed. For Harry and Ginny, this was the third time they had gone through the binding, and it had deepened the bond that they already shared. Harry wondered if they would be able to communicate wordlessly. But that was a subject that they could explore in depth later. For now it was enough to know that she was finally his wife, and that they would be spending the rest of their days together.

After the ceremony, Minerva changed the Great Hall from a wedding chapel into a reception hall. Tables were set up in much the same way that the house tables would be, with Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, McGonagall and the Unitarian minister, the Reverend Bosco McDowell sitting at the head table. Harry thought that the good Reverend must have been well prepared as to the oddities that he would be seeing. He asked him about it.

"It takes more than magic and a few elves to shock a Unitarian minister, after all, we have very open minds," the Reverend told him. Besides, I have known of your world for quite a few years, my niece went to Hogwarts, and I officiated at her wedding. I must say that the school lives up to its reputation. I always thought that Elissa was exaggerating, that it was a magician's school. I never really expected it to be a real wizard's school. Her wedding was at my church, this is my first time here."

Minerva got a wicked twinkle in her eye. "Reverend McDowell, would you like a tour of the school?" When Bosco jumped at the opportunity, she summoned Dobby to take him around. "Dobby, make sure that you introduce the Reverend to the Fat Friar. They might want to talk shop."

Before the Reverend left with Dobby, he gave McGonagall his card and offered his services as a spiritual counselor to any muggle-born students who might be having a hard time adjusting. Minerva took the card and asked him if it would be alright to hook his fireplace up to the Floo network. "This could open up a whole new area of wizard-muggle relations," she said.

After the meal and cake were eaten, all of the dancing finished, Harry was able to get together with Dudley for a few minutes. Dudley had accepted a contract with the Ministry to hunt down the Dementors, and either destroy them or drive them out of Britain. They had shown a remarkable unwillingness to leave on their own, so it had been a long, hard job to destroy them. He had made good strides, and Dementors were definitely an endangered species in the UK. This had come about when the Ministry had taken the advice of the American Department of Wizardry and Sorcery.

"So, what are you going to do when you have driven the last Dementor out of Britain?" Harry asked.

"I'm going back to Texas. Harry, I never really fit in as a muggle here, nor do I really fit in as a wizard in Britain. I don't have the background, and over here I will never be anything more than Harry Potter's cousin. I know that I did quite a bit in the last battle, and I appreciate the portion of the reward money, it is enough to live on the rest of my life if I wish. But I want to do something for me, and I believe that America is the place to do that. I am going to found the American branch of the House of Dursley. Jack says that he knows this cute little witch, actually a cousin of his, that he thinks that I would get along famously with. I don't know if she will be the one, but someday we will have family on both sides of the Atlantic. For now, I am enrolled at the University of Texas, El Paso. They offered me an athletic scholarship in boxing and football.

"But you have never played American Football."

"I told them that, but they say that I could probably make a good defensive lineman, whatever that is. They told me that it had to do with hitting people, and that is right up my alley. As far as the classes, I enrolled in the mining and geology program. I may end up working with Jack when I graduate."

The two cousins shared a arm-grip, then Harry and Ginny said their goodbyes, Ron and Hermione had already left via portkey. With a dual shout of "**_Accio Firebolt!",_** the two called their brooms, much as Fred and George had done when they escaped Umbridge, mounted them and flew out the doors into their future.

_**THE END?**_


End file.
